Turn Around Bright Eyes
by starrnobella
Summary: Non-Magical AU: In life, we stumble upon many different paths. Sometimes we choose the right path and sometimes we choose a different one. In essence, no matter which path we take, we learn from our experiences. Our choices mold who we are and what we will become.
1. Prologue

_A/N:_ First and foremost, I want to say that I don't know how often this story will be updated because I don't have a set writing schedule for it or any of my other works in progress. I've been working on this prologue for a little over six months now and I finally have it in the way that I want it to be.

Alpha love is going out to SquarePeg72 and beta love goes to the one and only xxDustNight88. xxDustNight88 also helped me to come up for the summary of this story as well. I'm eternally grateful to both of these amazing authors for everything that they have ever done for me.

That all being said, this story originated from my drabble, _We Need to Talk_ , from my Interstellar Novella collection. The main pairings in the story will be Theo Nott/Millicent Bulstrode and Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger. Curious as to the endgame pairing? You'll have to wait until the end for that to be revealed.

The only warning that I have for this story is that the plot focuses around an _affair_. If you have a problem with that, I don't recommend following this story.

The title comes from the lyrics to Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler as covered by Sleeping At Last. Once I get a playlist up and running for this story I will share it all with you.

All usual disclaimers apply. I don't write for profit and I don't own the characters that I write about. I just love adding my own little twist in the tales that J. K. Rowling has woven.

If you are interested in checking out my other works or keeping up with me in general, consider checking me out on Facebook! I have an author's page (starrnobella Fanfiction) as well as a group (starrnobella Fanfiction Friends & Fans) that I post in regularly. I'm also on Tumblr (starrnobella)!

Be sure to drop a review and let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

 _~ Two Years Prior ~_

"Do you, Millicent, take this man, to have and to hold, from now until your days on this earth come to an end?"

She smiled at her soon-to-be husband and nodded her head. "I do."

"And do you, Theodore, take this woman, to have and to hold, from now until your days on this earth come to an end?"

He squeezed her hand gently as a smile tugged at his lips. "I do."

The priest looked at the couple in front of him and smiled before he addressed the crowd. "Is there anyone here this day that does not believe this beautiful couple standing in front of us should be married? If so, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Both Theo and Millie glanced around the room out of the corner of their eyes. Happily, they didn't see anyone opening their mouths to say anything. All they saw were the faces of people smiling and it was all for them.

"With no objections to this marriage, I am proud to announce with the power vested in me by powers unknown, the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Nott. You may now kiss the bride."

Theo dropped Millie's hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her flesh against him. She smiled at him as she brought a hand up to cup his cheek. Within moments, their lips pressed together and a thunder of applause roared up from behind them.

Millie smiled against his lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. With one quick turn, Theo dipped her as he deepened the kiss briefly before standing back up right. He placed a few more chaste kisses on her lips before resting his forehead against hers, smiling down at her.

"I love you," he whispered, squeezing her tight.

"I love you too," she replied quietly. "Let's get this party started."

They turned to face their guests before making their way quickly down the aisle. It was time for a celebration and everyone was ready for a party.

. . . . . . . . .

"You know, that's going to be us in a little over a month," Hermione whispered as they watched Theo and Millie dance together in the middle of the floor. She rested her head gently on his shoulder and smiled when she felt him kiss the top of her head.

"If we make it to the reception hall," he mumbled against the top of her head.

Puzzle for the moment by his comment, Hermione turned to look at him with her brow furrowed. The wicked smile she noticed toying at his lips spoke more than she knew he ever would about the whole ordeal. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head as she rested it against his shoulder once again with her eyes on the dance floor.

"I will guarantee we make it to the reception."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I plan on enjoying the party I've been spending so much time planning. Besides, we will have the entire honeymoon and the rest of our lives to enjoy the things you have in mind. "

Draco laughed, pressing his lips to the top of her head once more. "Well, then, I promise I'll behave enough for us to make it to the reception hall on our wedding day. I won't promise anything about my behavior during the honeymoon. "

"That works for me," she hummed. "I wasn't planning on behaving well on our honeymoon either."

Hermione looked up at him through her lashes and winked as a playful smirk appeared on her face. Draco leaned down, pressing his lips to hers momentarily before they heard the voice of the lead singer overtop of the music.

"Mr. and Mrs. Nott would like to welcome their friends and family to join them on the dance floor."

Hermione jumped up quickly from her set and extended a hand to Draco with a large smile beaming from her face. Laughing, Draco took the hand and allowed her to pull him up from his seat, leading him to the dance floor.

They found a place and Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck while his hands found purchase in the small of her back. Together, they swayed to the music as the dance floor filled with more couples until they were completely surrounded.

. . . . . . . . .

"Congratulations!" Hermione cheered, wrapping her arms around Millie's neck as she hugged her tightly. "You look beautiful!"

"Thank you," Millie responded, wrapping her arms around Hermione momentarily. "Thanks for coming to celebrate with us."

"We wouldn't have missed it for the world. You have to tell me who your caterer was because the BBQ idea was amazing! I don't think I've ever tasted a pulled pork sandwich so delicious."

Draco and Theo shook their heads as they listened to the ladies discuss the venue and the food. If they knew one thing for sure, those two would never run out of things to talk about as long as they were all friends.

"Congratulations, Nott. You're the first one to tie the knot. How's it feel?" Draco asked with a laugh, extending his hand to his former classmate and best friend.

Theo took his hand happily and smiled. "Thanks, Malfoy. I'd have to say it feels pretty damn good."

"Just think, Malfoy," Millie chimed in, pausing her conversation with Hermione momentarily, "you're next."

She reached over and squeezed Hermione's hand, winking at her with a laugh. She watched as Draco's expression changed from his usual teasing demeanour to one filled with genuine happiness when he glanced over at his bride-to-be. The look reminded her of one very similar to a look she was used to seeing on Theo's face out of the corner of her eye when he thought she wasn't looking.

"We really are the lucky ones," Hermione sighed happily before she and Millie burst out into a fit of laughter.

. . . . . . . . . .

 _~ A Month Later ~_

"I choose you to be none other than yourself, loving what I know of you and trusting who you will become. I will respect and honor, always and in all ways. I take you as my husband, to have and to hold in tears and in laughter, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward in this world and the next, " Hermione said, wiping away the stray tear rolling down her cheek.

When her brown eyes met his blue, she smiled. He looked so handsome standing in front of her. She still couldn't believe that they were actually getting married. No one ever believed that they'd make it this far, except for the two of them.

"I didn't fall in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we were only fated to do two things that we'd choose anyway. And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you," Draco said, squeezing Hermione's hand once again as he watched a stray tear roll down her cheek.

The minister looked between the two of them and smiled as he placed a gentle hand on each of their shoulders. "Ladies and Gentlemen, in front of you this day is a couple so truly in love. A couple who has chosen each other time and time again over anyone else.

"If there is anyone here who believes these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your feelings on the subject to yourself."

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione noticed a few heads turning from left to right, looking for someone ready to speak out. She could feel the eyes of those in attendance watching her out of the corner of their own eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and focused her attention back on the handsome man standing in front of her. As she opened them again, she saw his smile and it brought one to her own lips. It didn't matter what was going through anyone else's mind at that moment. All that matter was her love for Draco and his love for her.

"With no objections from the crowd gathered here today, it is my great honor to introduce to you this day, the newly betrothed Mr. and Mrs. Draco Malfoy!" the Minister announced to the crowd. Turning his attention back to Hermione and Draco, he smiled. "You may now kiss your bride."

Draco pulled Hermione into him and slipped his arms around her waist, crashing his lips against hers roughly. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she turned her head slightly, allowing him to deepen the kiss momentarily before they separated.

He interlaced his fingers with hers and squeezed them tightly once more. "We did it," he whispered in her ear, leaning down slightly.

She turned and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Yes, we did, and now we get to celebrate!"

. . . . . . . . .

"Look, they made it on time," Millie whispered, pointing towards the door as Hermione and Draco entered the hall.

Theo glanced over at the door and laughed as he noticed the large smile on both of their faces. "Apparently Draco's distraction techniques weren't as effective as he had hoped them to be."

She laughed and leaned against him, tipping her head back to rest it on his shoulder. She smiled when she felt him wrap his arms around her waist."Only Draco would try to get frisky before the reception."

Theo shrugged, resting his chin on the top of her head. "It's not a terrible plan…"

"Jealous you didn't think of it?"

"I can't say the thought hadn't crossed my mind on our special day…"

Millie rolled her eyes before focusing her attention back to the newlyweds. "They look happy," she hummed.

"Yeah, they do," he replied, pressing his lips to the top of her head lightly.

. . . . . . . . .

"I never thought I'd see this day," Theo laughed, clapping a hand onto Draco's shoulder with a smile beaming from his face. "Congratulations, my friend."

Draco turned and wrapped an arm around Theo, pulling him into a one-armed hug. "Honestly, I didn't think I'd see it either."

Hermione laughed as she gave Millie a quick hug. "Why didn't you think you'd see it?"

"You've been scary for the last couple weeks," he laughed nervously, taking a step out arm's reach. He shook his head when she swung her arm at him, grazing the sleeve of his suit.

"You're overreacting," Millie added, walking over to Theo and wrapping an arm around his waist. She smiled when she felt his arm wrap around her as well. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes for a few moments, asking, "Was I scary the few weeks before the wedding?"

Theo opened his mouth to respond, but almost immediately shut it again. Draco, having caught the subtle movement out of the corner of his eye, burst out laughing. His enthusiastic laughter carried over to Theo, who soon started laughing uncontrollably.

Both Hermione and Millie's heads snapped in the direction of their respective husbands.

"Would you like to spend our honeymoon sleeping on the couch?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms over her chest. As Draco turned to face her, he was met with narrowed eyes aimed directly at him in utter frustration.

"Of course not," he replied quickly, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "I plan on spending our honeymoon in bed with you."

Swiftly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. As their bodies met, their lips crashed into one another's briefly before they heard a roar of applause fill the room.

Hermione pulled away and smiled as she nervously tucked her head in the crook of Draco's neck. She sighed when she felt him wrap a protective arm around her waist and pressed his lips to the side of her head.

"To the happy couple," Millie cheered, lifting her glass to air. "May their love forever shine as bright as it does this day."

"Here, here!" the crowd around them cheered, lifting their glasses as they toasted the happy couple.

. . . . . . . . .

 _~ Current Day ~_

"We need to talk," she said softly as she entered the bedroom. She had found him lying on the bed staring out the window. It seemed as though he was lost in thought and hadn't heard her. She opened her mouth to speak again when he rolled over to look at her.

He sighed deeply and carded his hand through his hair. "What about?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

They were both keeping secrets. It was just a matter of time until one of those secrets broke through the cracks and ruined everything. Those secrets had led to broken promises and miscommunications. Those miscommunications resulted in nights where she would cry herself to sleep and he would drink himself to oblivion.

"You know what," she replied calmly. There was a strain in her voice that only he could recognize. One that he had heard many times before. Every single time she came back after she saw _him_.

"How is the _doting_ husband?" he hissed as he sat up and scooted back against the headboard, crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes met hers.

"I could ask you the same question about your _loving_ wife," she quipped, plopping herself down at the end of the bed opposite him.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. She was right, but here they were away from their significant others in the presence of their deepest secret. It was the beginning of a conversation they always started to have, but were too afraid to finish. They avoided it like the plague. It appeared that tonight it would be no different.

"We need to figure out what _this_ is," she said motioning back and forth between them. "I don't want to lose you." She reached out and placed her hand on his knee. He didn't move away, but his whole body froze. She sighed and pulled her hand away from him and rested it in her lap. She watched him take a deep breath and relax as he exhaled.

"We already made our choices. Do you think this was a mistake?" he asked shrugging his shoulders as he uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He waited for her answer. He could see the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Just like they always did when they had this exact conversation.

"No, of course not," she insisted, reaching out to take his hands. Slowly, she interlaced her fingers with his and pulled herself closer to him, closing the gap between them. The stern look on his face faded away as he rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hands.

"Then quit worrying about losing me," he whispered as he leaned forward and placed his lips against her forehead. She nodded her head slowly before meeting his lips with her own.


	2. 1: A Lie I Didn't Have to Tell

**A/N:** I'm actually shocked that I'm updating this story already, but after a recent request for songs to help build a playlist, I was inspired with the chapter that appears here. I had intentions of finishing up a different update, but this one came first.

Beta love goes to xxDustNight88 and alpha love goes to SquarePeg72. Love these two to death, even if it doesn't always seem like I'm in the best of moods.

The title of this chapter is _A Lie I Didn't Have to Tell_ which is a lyric from Unfaithful by Rihanna.

As I said in the first author's note, the plot of this story comes from the affair that is going on. I'm sorry if that's a sensitive subject for anyone reading, and trust me I'll understand if you can't handle reading it. I wouldn't be writing the story if I didn't have some kind of experience with the type of situation.

Be sure to check me out on Facebook and Tumblr if you'd like to interact with me a little more than the comment section allows. All the links are on my profile! :)

Hopefully you enjoy the chapter and be sure to let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Applying a few last minute touches to her look, Millie looked at her reflection in the mirror one last time before she left for the night. She needed to be out the door by seven thirty or she'd be late. And tonight, late wasn't an option.

"Theo!" she called, walking out of the master bedroom as she gathered the remaining pieces to complete her look. She grabbed her purse off the chair outside of the room and made her way toward the staircase. "Theo! I'm leaving."

Making her way down the stairs, she rounded the corner into the kitchen and ran face first into his chest. She shook her head and stepped back, laughing as she did so. "There you are."

"Yes, here I am," he replied with a laugh. "Did you call for me?"

Millie fought the urge to roll her eyes, nodding her head. "Yup. I just wanted to let you know I was leaving."

"Oh yeah," he mumbled, carding a hand through his hair. "Where are you headed?"

"Just out for drinks with the girls. You'll be okay here alone though, right?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him with a smile on her face. "You won't miss me _too_ terribly?"

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her into him and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I'm sure I can find something to keep me entertained without you here, but I can't promise I won't miss you."

Millie pressed up on her tiptoes, tipping her head back and gently pressing her lips to his. "Don't have too much fun."

"I'll try to refrain," he replied with a laugh and a wink. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

"Why? Have plans with your secret _girlfriend_?"

Shaking his head, he leaned down and captured her lips once more. "Nope, but I might have plans for you when you get home."

"I'll see if my _date_ will let me leave a little early," she said with a laugh. "But if I don't get going, I really am going to be late."

Theo leaned down and pressed his lips to hers once more. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, placing one more chaste kiss on his lips and she was out the door.

Theo watched her leave and sighed, shaking his head as the door closed behind her. If anyone had overheard their conversation, one might assume that the side comments were serious.

Glancing at the door one more time, Theo reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He slid the lock screen open and shot off a quick text message. If Millie could go out with some friends for the night, then so could he.

Once she was in the car outside of their townhouse, Millie reached into her purse to grab her phone. Glancing down at the clock, she realized she was going to be late. This was not how she anticipated her evening starting.

Sliding her phone open, she composed a quick text message and sent it before backing out of the drive.

Now, they were on the clock. It was going to be an interesting evening, hoping that time was on their side for now.

. . . . . . . .

 _8:05 PM - Running a little late. I'll see you soon._

 _8:07 PM - Okay, hurry. I can't wait to see you..._

 _8:09 PM - I can't wait to see you either. We'll be together soon._

. . . . . . . .

"I hate lying to him," she mumbled, rolling on to her back with a sigh as she closed her eyes. She wanted to stop her racing mind, but it appeared nothing she could do was going to stop the thoughts.

Turning onto his side, he draped hand across her waist, trailing his fingers along the exposed skin from under the blanket. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew exactly how she felt. His own mind was chock-full of guilt about the lies he had been telling of his own.

"I know you do," he whispered, leaning in and pressing his lips to the side of her head. "I hate lying to her too, but unless we want to go our separate ways…"

His voice trailed off as his eyes filled with pain. He didn't want to lose her, but at the same time he didn't want to lose his wife either. Having them both was something of a security blanket he had come to depend on.

"I don't want to go our separate ways," she reassured him, turning to face him and propping her head up on her elbow. Reaching over, she gently stroked his cheek and brought a smile upon her lips. "I'm exactly where I want to be."

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his gently, brushing her tongue along the curve of his lip, silently seeking entry. Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his arm securely around her waist and pulled her against him as his lips parted enough to allow her tongue to slip inside.

He rolled onto his back and pulled her over with him, her legs straddling his waist. The sheet covering her fell to the side as she positioned herself on top of him. Within a matter of moments, she lowered herself onto his cock. She gasped as she felt him take control from beneath her.

She tilted her head back as she exhaled, exposing her neck to him. Taking advantage of the moment, he place a few light kisses along her neck and collarbone.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close to him and flipped them both over so that he was in control. She wrapped her legs around his waist, digging her heels into his flesh as he rocked himself in and out of her core.

Lowering his head to kiss her once more, he smirked when he felt her fingers interlace themselves in his hair, pulling him close. As he pulled away, his eyes met hers and he noticed a fire there that he hadn't seen before.

"Now, I've got you exactly where I want you," he growled, slamming himself into her with a new found passion.

. . . . . . . . .

"You're home late," she mumbled, rolling onto her side to face him. A sleepy smile appeared on her face when his eyes met hers.

He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I know. I didn't wake you when I came in, did I?"

Hermione shook her head against the pillow, reaching over to stroke his arms gently. "Just a matter of perfect timing," she said, laughing quietly. "Did you have fun tonight?"

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it again , taking a few moments to think about exactly what he wanted to say. He hadn't lied to her about his plans for the evening, but in all reality, he hadn't exactly been truthful either.

After a few brief moments, he finally made up his mind. "It would have been better if our team had won, but overall the night was still enjoyable."

"That's good," she replied with a yawn. "I missed you tonight."

Sliding into bed beside her, Draco smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into him. "I missed you too."

Hermione rolled into him and snuggled up close, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his cologne. The scent allowed her mind to drift away to the first time she had smelled it and she smiled into his shoulder. It was the same cologne that he had been wearing on their wedding day.

"What did you get into tonight?" he asked.

"Nothing much," she mumbled into his chest. "I did some cleaning and got a few things ready for work in the morning."

As she spoke, she felt her subconscious shaking its head at her. It was only a small white lie and it wasn't hurting anyone. She did get some cleaning done as well as getting a few other things ready for work in the morning. It wasn't like he had asked for an exact timeline of her evening.

Sometimes, the truth was better kept as a secret for the feelings of all those involved.

"That sounds like fun."

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to the top of her, kissing her gently for a moment. She leaned her head back, lifting her eyes to his. There was a love there that shone so bright for her and it brought a smile to her face.

Extending her neck, she pressed her lips to his and she brought her arms up to wrap around his neck, pulling him close to her. As she did so, Draco tightened his arm around her waist slightly, holding her in place.

"I'm sure I can think of a few other more fun things to do now, though," she whispered against his lips.

"Oh really?"

Pressing her lips into his roughly, she nodded her head with a smile toying at her lips.

. . . . . . . .

 _1:05 AM - When can I see you again? I miss the feeling of your skin against mine…_

 _1:06 AM - Soon, I promise. We can talk about it tomorrow…_

 _1:07 AM - Promise?_

 _1:08 AM - Promise, now get some sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow…_

 _1:09 AM - Sweet dreams..._


	3. 2: It's Kinda Hard to Talk Right Now

**A/N:** I've been sitting on this update for a few days. Things have been extremely hectic lately, but I wanted to make sure I got a chapter out to you all for this story. I know you're dying to know what's going to happen next. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out because I haven't found my inspiration song yet, but I promise I'm working on finding one.

Alpha love goes to SquarePeg72. Otherwise, this story was self-betaed. I apologize in advance for any mistakes you may find. They are my own.

The title of this chapter is _It's Kinda Hard to Talk Right Now_ which is a lyric from Lips of an Angel by Hinder.

Be sure to check me out on Facebook and Tumblr if you'd like to interact with me a little more than the comment section allows. All the links are on my profile! :)

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

 _10:05 AM - What time does he normally fall asleep?_

 _10:07 AM - It varies. Why?_

 _10:09 AM - Well, since I can't see you tonight, I thought it might be nice to talk to you on the phone…._

 _10:11 AM - What about your wife?_

 _10:12 AM - She's clueless. Besides, she's normally asleep by eleven._

 _10:15 AM - We have plans tonight. Dinner with the in-laws, so we'll be out late._

 _10:16 AM - How late?_

 _10:17 AM - Why does it matter?_

 _10:17 AM - Because I miss you and I'll stay up as late as I need to just to hear your voice…_

 _10:20 AM - I'll text you after he falls asleep…_

. . . . . . . .

Hermione sighed, rolling onto her side as she laid in bed and picked up her phone. It had been buzzing non-stop since she had arrived home. Wasn't the whole point of leaving work at the end of the day supposed to mean that the phone would stop going off for work? Apparently not, she thought with a shrug.

Flipping the phone over, she smiled when she saw the name flashing across the screen. She slid her finger across and read the messages that had appeared in the last few moments. In fact, she had been so engrossed in her phone that she hadn't realized Draco had walked into the room.

"Who's that smile for?" he asked, climbing up onto the bed beside her.

"You," she replied, quickly setting her phone aside as she rolled over to face him. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "What took you so long to come to bed?"

"I couldn't get Pavarti off the phone. She's freaking out about what happened at work today," he sighed, folding an arm underneath his head and pressing back into the pillow.

"What happened at work?"

"The CEO laid off fifteen people this morning, and everyone was waiting for the next cut to come through the office memos. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're all waiting for the next listing to go up."

Hermione sat straight up in bed, turning to face him. "Why did fifteen people get laid off? Is your job on the line? What's going on?"

Slowly, he moved into a seat position and reached over, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he pulled her into him. He pressed his lips to the side of her head as a smile pulled at his lips. "For the time being, my job is not on the line. Or at least that's what I was told this morning. I was also told they couldn't make any promises as of right now."

"Okay," she sighed, taking a deep breath as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. "What happened to everyone else?"

He shrugged, resting his cheek on the top of her head. "Dunno. In fact, I didn't even know that anything was going on until Pavarti came flying into my office like a chicken with its head cut off."

"Weird…"

Behind her, she heard the soft buzzing of her phone once again. With a sigh, she leaned over, lifting the phone slightly to see why it was buzzing and quickly locked the screen again.

"Who was that?" he asked, turning his head to face her slightly.

"It was just a Facebook notification," she hummed, turning back towards him and pressing her lips into his gently. "Nothing to distract us now…"

"Is that so?" he asked between kisses, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him. "And what would it have possibly been distracting us from?"

. . . . . . . .

"Why does your phone keep buzzing?" Theo asked, reaching over to her side of the bed to grab the annoying device, preparing to throw it across the room. Just as he was about to pick up, she snatched it out from underneath his hand.

"We had like six people up and quit today at work," Millie replied, locking her phone and shoving it in her pocket. "So everyone is trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It's a nightmare."

"That's crazy," he replied, carding his hand through his hair before allowing it to come to rest on his stomach like before. He watched as she walked away from the bed toward the dresser and began digging through the top drawer. "What are you looking for?"

"My pajama top," she grumbled, tossing a few items out of the drawer allowing them to fall onto the floor. "Where the hell is it?"

"Do you really need it?" he asked, quirking a brow as a seductive undertone flooded his voice. Ignoring the audible huff he had heard her make, Theo took a few moments to glance around the room. Based on what he could recall from their actions the night before, he had a relative idea as to where the mysterious top may have been hiding. "Check behind the chair by the lamp."

"Why would it be over there?" she asked, spinning around on her heels to face him with her hands settled on her hips. As she spun around, her eyes glanced around the room, slowly trailing in the direction of his suggestion.

He was right. _Damn_.

She shook her head as she crossed the room to gather the garment in question and quickly slipped it on over her head. She laughed when she spotted the smile Theo was now sporting from the bed.

"Lucky guess," she mumbled, collapsing on the bed beside him, allowing her face to be buried in the pillows.

Theo laughed and slid down the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He leaned over and placed a few gentle kisses along the exposed skin that wasn't covered by the flimsy fabric of her camisole.

"It wasn't a lucky guess. I was just taking in my surroundings," he whispered against her shoulder.

"It was still luck," she grumbled, turning her head to the side. There was a hint of a smile in her eyes when they met his.

She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket once again. Sighing she reached down and held the lock button until it powered off. Now wasn't the time for distractions. Well, at least distractions of the technological kind.

. . . . . . . . .

The soft buzzing of her phone against the nightstand caused her to stir, rolling onto her side and reaching out for her phone. Glancing back over her shoulder, she noticed him stir slightly, but he dozed off easily. With a sigh she looked down at her phone, smiling as she noticed the name written across it.

She slipped out from underneath the blanket and made her way to the door. She paused, looking back at his sleeping figure on the bed. He looked peaceful as he slept, but right now her mind was in another place.

Closing the door quietly behind her, she slid her thumb across the screen, answering the call. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, hello to you too," he replied with a laugh.

Nervously, she ran a hand through her hair and smiled as she curled up on the couch in the next room. "I'm sorry. I was just surprised that you called."

"Do you want me to hang up?"

"Of course not. I'm happy you called. I was just surprised is all. What are you up to?"

His voice was hushed, probably for the same reason hers was as well. Neither one of them wanted to wake their significant others, but they didn't want to miss this opportunity. It had been few days since they had last spoken.

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too."

"I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head furiously as she pulled a blanket over her lap. "I was having trouble sleeping actually."

She could practically hear him smiling on the other end of the call. She smiled to herself as she slid down into the couch, making herself more comfortable.

In the moment of silence that followed her response, she could tell that there was a question lingering in the air that he was too afraid to ask. She sighed, knowing sooner or later there were going to be questions arising about her loyalties. Both to the man on the phone and the man fast asleep in the other room.

At the same time, however, she could raise questions about his loyalties as well. Both of them were living a lie and neither one of them were ready to come clean. Each one parading around a front of a happy marriage without any problems, but here they were sneaking around to speak to one another on the phone and making secret plans to run away for a few hours while the _husband_ and _wife_ were none the wiser.

"Did I wake -," his voice faded away before he was able to complete the thought that had been floating around in the void between them. Taking a deep breath, he paused momentarily before speaking again. "Does _he_ know you're talking to me?"

She shook her head and then exhaled sharply, smacking herself softly in the head. They were on the phone, bright one. He can't hear you shaking your head. "No, he's fast asleep. In fact, he didn't even register that I had gotten out of bed. What about -?"

He cut her off quickly. "I don't think she has a clue. Although, I haven't gone back to the bedroom since she went to bed. I was working on some stuff for work."

"Oh, okay," she replied, internally sighing at the relief that they were safe from getting caught, at least for the moment. That was a conversation for another time when they knew exactly what was going on between them without any questions floating around unanswered in the air.

It was only a matter of time until they slipped up, exposing everything to the open. Although for now, they'd take advantage of the time that was allotted to them and the happiness they were able to share.


	4. 3: Why don't we just cut to the chase?

**A/N:** Here's the next update to this tale that has so many of you hooked!

Alpha love goes to SquarePeg72. Beta love goes to the lovely xxDustNight88. You should all go check them all out!

The title of this chapter is _Why don't we just cut to the chase?_ which is a lyric from Man to Man by Gary Allen.

Be sure to check me out on Facebook and Tumblr if you'd like to interact with me a little more than the comment section allows. All the links are on my profile! :)

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

Hermione briefly glanced at the watch on her wrist before looking back at the door. Where was she? Millie never missed their weekly coffee. In fact, she normally beat Hermione here. Looking around the shop, she furrowed her brow as she searched the shop. Did she miss her sitting at a table when she got here?

Scanning the room resulted in nothing, so she reached down into her purse and fished out her mobile. Maybe something had happened to her. Maybe, Hermione remembered the time wrong.

She scoffed at the thought as she slid her thumb across the screen. She never got the time of anything wrong. In fact, she had triple checked the time this morning before she even considered leaving the house. She scrolled through her messages until she found Millie's name and typed off a quick message.

 _9:15 AM - Where are you? I thought we agreed to meet at nine…_

Pleased with her text, Hermione turned on the ringer for her phone and slipped it back into her purse. She wrapped her hands around the cup of coffee sitting in front of her and lifted it to her lips, taking a sip of the delicious beverage. Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh as she lowered the cup back to the table.

"Sorry I'm late. I got caught in traffic," Millie said, pulling up a seat and pulling Hermione back out of her coffee induced daze. "Need a refill?"

Hermione nodded her head and watched as Millie called over a waitress, placing her order. As she watched her friend, she thought back over what she had just said as she pulled up a seat. The two had chosen this exact coffeeshop because it was within equal walking distance from their respective flats.

"What do you mean you got caught in traffic? You only live half a block away," Hermione questioned, furrowing her brow at her friend. The immediate flush of color to her cheeks told Hermione more than she needed to know. Shaking her head, she put her hands up and laughed. "Nevermind. I don't want to know."

Millie laughed and playfully pushed Hermione's shoulder. "Nothing like that. Theo and I got into an argument this morning, which meant I was late leaving. I'm pretty sure he was going to be late to work too. Not that I care."

Millie crossed her arms over her chest and pouted her lower lip. Their argument had been something so stupid. She was still having difficulties wrapping her mind around exactly what had been said that managed to set both of them off. Maybe it was a lack of sleep or maybe it was something else. All she knew at that exact moment was that she was happy to be out of the flat for a little while.

"But you do care," Hermione said, placing a gentle hand on her friends shoulder. "Just like I care about the fight that Draco and I got into this morning."

"There must have been something in the air this morning," Millie laughed, shaking her head slightly. "Was it something so stupid that you can't pinpoint the exact reason the two of you started fighting?"

"How'd you know?" she replied, scrunching her brow. It was almost as though Millie was reading her mind at that exact moment. For the life of her, Hermione couldn't think of what had triggered their fight. All she could remember is that she stormed out of the flat without even a kiss goodbye, which was something the two of them never parted ways without.

"Because that's how my morning started too."

"Well, it sounds like we've got a lot to talk about."

As the two nodded in agreement, the waitress brought over another round of drinks and soon they were lost in conversation.

What would their husbands say if they knew the secrets that were shared during their weekly meetings? Would they be embarrassed at the details the two shared or would they be jealous of what the other was capable of?

Maybe someday the two households would sit down to a meal and discuss their exploits all together, making use of the secrets they knew about one another. Maybe that someday would be sooner than either couple would like to think.

. . . . . . . .

"Draco! Wait up!" Theo called after him, quickening his pace to catch up with him. Placing a firm hand on his shoulder, Theo noticed that he had headphones in his ears, which meant the fact that Theo had been calling after him for the last block didn't mean anything.

Draco turned to look at the mysterious person who was touching him and smiled, reaching up to pull the headphones out of his ear. "Hey, Theo. What's up?"

"Oh, not too much. Just chasing after a friend and yelling like an idiot at him because I didn't know he had earbuds in," he replied, shrugging his shoulders with a smile on his face.

Furrowing his brow, Draco carded a hand through his hair. "Sorry about that. I have a lot on my mind and just wanted to tune out the world for a few little while."

"Everything okay?" He watched as Draco thought about his answer to the question. When he asked the question, Theo didn't think it would elicit a complicated answer that required a major thought process.

Spotting an empty bench just up ahead, Draco motioned to it with his head. "Do you have some time to spare?"

"I take it the answer to my question is no," Theo said with a laugh. "Of course I've got some time."

The pair walked over the bench and took a seat. It had been a long time since the two of them had just chatted. Sure, they were old friends, but talking about issues wasn't the norm for male friends. The simple fact that Draco had even asked him was a very bold move.

A solemn silence fell between them as they sat there. Neither one certain of what they were going to discuss. Both of them housed enough secrets about the other's lives that anything they shared could destroy the possibility of happiness with their wives with one wrong slip of the tongue. Now, it was only a matter of time to see what secrets would be revealed this time.

. . . . . . . .

"What does he know?"

His voice was soft, barely above a whisper as he aimlessly ran his fingers through her hair that was splayed out over his chest as she laid next to him, resting her head on his chest. He felt her entire body tense and her breathing hitch quickly.

She leaned back and tilted her head up to look at him. There was a sadness in his eyes that struck her, causing her to feel as though she had been hit by a ton of bricks. She hated having this conversation because it always ended the same exact way.

Both of them would get mad and storm home to the exact people they had just been fighting about. The strain on their relationship was self-inflicted, and there was nothing that either of them were willing to do in order to relieve that stress.

Shockingly, for once, she wasn't the one to lead off the argument this time. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes as she spoke. "About as much as _she_ probably does. Or have you opened up to her about everything recently?"

She pushed up off his chest and readjusted herself so she was sitting beside him with her arms crossed over her chest. She could see his frustration forming on his face as the gears turned in his mind, contemplating his answer. She took a deep breath and waited.

"Don't bring her into this," he huffed, pressing his head back into the pillow before moving into a seated position. Slowly, he turned his face to hers, a solemn grimace taking over the usual smile that she could find there.

"Why not?" she asked, cocking her head to the side as she trailed her eyes over his face.

"She has nothing to do with this right now," he replied through gritted teeth.

She tossed her head back with a laugh and threw her hands up in the air before scrubbing them over her face and running her fingers hair. Shaking her head, she smiled. "Of course she doesn't. She never does when this conversation comes up. Even when I can see her name flashing on your mobile."

Spotting his phone out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the screen was lit and her name was display prominently across it. Inhaling sharply, he reached over and picked up the phone, holding the power button until the device shut off.

"That's just coincidence," he huffed.

"How is it a coincidence that she happens to call every single time we get together?" she replied, pushing off the bed to stand beside it. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

"You mean the same coincidence that happens when he texts you the whole time you're with me?"

"At least text messages can be easily ignored."

"And phone calls can't?"

"Not without there being more questions to answer when you get home. You can't keep lying to her forever."

"So are you saying he's so gullible that you'll be able to lie to him forever?"

"No," she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "That's not what I'm saying at all."

"What are you saying then? Because right now it sounds like you're defending your actions as well as your fucked up relationship with your husband. If it wasn't fucked up, then I'm fairly certain you wouldn't actually be here with me right now."

"And your relationship with your wife is so perfect, right? Pretty sure it's pretty damn fucked up too. Why do you even care what he knows anyways? If he knew, I wouldn't be here in front of you right now."

Scrubbing his hands over his face, he pressed the heel of his hands into his eyes, rubbing the roughly for a brief moment. He took a deep breath as he lowered his hands, allowing his eyes to meet hers. He saw a sadness there that broke his heart.

There was no denying the fact that he had strong feelings for the beautiful woman standing in front of him with tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. His thumb, however, was rubbing the cool metal of his wedding band on the underside of his ring finger. He had strong feelings for the woman with one to match, too.

"I ran into him after work the other day and something he said caught me off guard," he finally admitted, rubbing a hand over the top of his head.

"What did he say?" she asked, nervously pulling at the end of her ponytail.

"He feels like he's losing you."

She could feel the tears that had welled up in the corners of her eyes begin to roll down her cheeks. She hadn't meant to distance herself from _him_ , but it just seemed to happen that way. Late nights at work. Pretend weekend business trips. Any excuse she could think of just to run away to the secret loft the two of them were holed up in right now, hiding away from reality.

"You know," she whispered softly, "she feels like she's losing you too."

"How do you-?" he started to ask before she cut him off mid-question.

"We meet for coffee once a week. We have since graduation," she said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "You didn't realize that?"

"I guess I just never made the connection."

"So what are we going to do now?"

. . . . . . . .

 _11:30 PM - Are you awake?_

 _11:33 PM - Barely. What do you want?_

 _11:34 PM - To talk to you about what happened earlier…_

 _11:35 PM - Your timing really sucks, you know? I can't talk about this now…_

 _11:36 PM - Why not? I don't want us to go to bed angry…_

 _11:37 PM - Because HE will be coming to bed any minute. Just say what you want to say and I'll answer you when I get to work._

 _11:38 PM - I'll just wait until I see you next I guess_

 _11:39 PM - Well, I don't know when that'll be, so you might as well just take the time to type it out now_

 _11:50 PM - Or you aren't going to tell me. Fine. I guess I'll talk to you whenever's convenient. Night_

. . . . . . . .

 _Unsent message typed at 12:00 AM: I hate fighting with you. I can't help that sometimes I get jealous of the relationship that the two of you have. I know I don't have any right to get jealous, but I do. I'm sorry, I can't help the strong feelings that I have for you. I love you…._

 _12:02 AM - I'm sorry. Sometimes my temper gets the better of me. Say you'll forgive me…._


	5. 4: When You're About to Break

**A/N:** I'm sorry this has taken so long to get posted. I didn't even realize it had been a month since I updated until I received a message on tumblr from a loyal reader asking about the story. Life has literally gotten insane and I lost track of time.

Part of the reason that this chapter is so late is because my beloved beta, xxDustNight88, has gotten very sick and I've been helping her get better. If you feel so inclined, please go check out her work and leave her some reviews. She's wonderful.

SquarePeg72 alpha read this chapter for me and then I did my own beta work, so I apologize for any errors that you may find.

The title of this chapter is _When You're About to Break_ which is a lyric from Take It Out On Me by Florida Georgia Line. I was actually writing this chapter with another song in mind, but changed it at the last second as I wrote one of the last scenes.

I have posted the playlist for this story on Spotify, which is linked somewhere on my author page if you are interested in checking out the songs that inspire the chapters!

Be sure to check me out on Facebook and Tumblr if you'd like to interact with me a little more than the comment section allows. All the links are on my profile! :)

Enjoy! I'm sorry about the wait.

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"Do you even want to be with me after everything that's happened in the last three weeks?"

His question caught her off guard and she wasn't sure how to respond. Up until the last three weeks, everything about their relationship had been slightly less than complicated. However, the reality of the situation was that no part of their relationship was anything other than complicated.

She glanced down at the rings on her finger. The rings meant something to her, but so did the man standing by the window, pretending that she hadn't ignored his question. The rings stood for a promise she made with another man in front of their family and friends. A promise that was supposed to mean something.

But what did it all mean anymore?

Slowly, he turned to look at her and noticed she was intently focused on her hand. His eyes followed hers until he noticed the sparkle coming off of her engagement ring in the fading fluorescent light of the lamp in the corner of the room. Shaking his head, he exhaled sharply and carded a hand through his hair. "Nevermind."

He moved toward the door, gathering his belongings as he went. He was mumbling to himself and shaking his head. He couldn't believe he had been so foolish to think that this could have worked. So foolish to believe that the two of them could live happily together, hiding out in hotel rooms while remaining married to their significant others. Keeping secrets that never should have existed.

"This was a mistake," he said, pausing with his hand on the handle. "I need to get out of here. I'll talk to you later."

"Don't," she called after him, closing the space between them and grabbing his shoulder, forcing him to turn and face her.

"Don't what?" he sighed, meeting her eyes as he turned to her. There was a sadness in her eyes. He couldn't tell whether it was because he was leaving or if it was because she was missing her husband. "I'm not saying I'm perfect and what I'm doing to my wife is better than what you're doing to your husband, but I chose to come here to this stupid hotel room to be with you."

"And why did you do that?" she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. "If you came here to fight, then maybe you should just leave. I'm not in the mood to fight tonight."

"I don't know why chose to come here. All I know is that right now I regret even stepping inside tonight," he replied.

"Then leave," she huffed, spinning on her heels and taking a few steps toward the bed. Hearing the door slam shut behind her, she collapsed onto the bed as the tears started to roll down her cheek.

As the door closed behind him, he leaned back against the flat surface, tilting his head back until it hit the wood. He scrubbed his hands over his face and took a deep breath. His mind was running a million miles a minute and there was nothing he could do to make it stop.

What was he doing standing on the outside of the door? He wanted nothing more than to be inside with _her_ , forgetting about the world that continued on around them when they were hidden away together.

He laughed at the thought. They had spent so much time trying to keep secrets from everyone else in their lives that they had forgotten about the secrets they were keeping from one another. As he tilted his head forward, he looked down at the watch on his wrist.

A birthday present from his wife.

It was beautiful, but it had also been expensive. So expensive, in fact, that he found out she needed to pick up extra shifts at work just to be able to pay the damn thing off. The argument regarding the entire situation was still too fresh in his mind, part of the reason for his escape to "paradise," or what he hoped it to be anyways.

He needed time to think. Maybe a walk would clear his head.

Propping her head up with her elbow, she sighed as she looked at the door. Why wasn't he coming back inside? He always came back inside after one of their little spats. As soon as the door closed, he was knocking on it, asking for her to let him in. The longest it had ever taken was five or six minutes. But now…

She pushed herself up off the bed and turned toward the door. As she crossed her arms over her chest, she sighed. She'd wait here all night if she had to. Neither of them should be alone tonight. It was his birthday after all, and she had wonderfully wicked ideas in mind of how to celebrate.

Fighting was not part of the plan. Why did he have to bring up the last three weeks? The wounds from the last three weeks were still fresh, and for once she didn't want to be reminded by them. For once, she just wanted to tune out the world, forgetting everything except the man whose birth they were supposed to be celebrating this evening.

. . . . . . . .

"What do you want me to say Hermione? I fucked up, but at least instead of keeping it a secret I came clean about it," Draco shouted, pacing the floor of their sitting room. He couldn't believe they were still having this stupid, stupid argument.

Trying to change the subject was not an option at this point. If he even attempted the change, she'd probably rip his head off. When she was in one of these moods, he knew it was best to just let her go. He'd deal with the aftermath later.

"And what haven't I come clean about lately? The last time I checked, I've been rather upfront with you about _all_ of my goings on," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Draco tossed his head back with a laugh and shook his head. "When was the last time we had a legitimate conversation without it turning into a screaming match?"

Hermione thought about it for a few moments. It seemed like the two of them had been fighting every day for the last three weeks. There was no logical explanation behind it, other than the simple fact that they had both been overly irritable lately.

Maybe they were coming down with something. All she could do was hope that it would be over soon and things could return to normal in the near future. She was sick of fighting. It seemed to be all they knew how to do lately.

"Obviously things are a little rough for us right now," she grumbled. "But it's nothing we haven't been able to work through before. We always work this shit out."

"So our relationship is shit now?" Draco shook his head, stopping his pacing as he approached the window. He glanced out into the darkness outside. His mind was filled with memories of happier times. Nights that weren't spent sleeping in separate beds or arguing until the wee hours of the morning and then each one barely able to focus on their jobs the next day.

"You know damn well that's not what I meant Malfoy," Hermione hissed, storming across the room and grabbing him by the shoulder. She forced him to turn around and make eye contact with her.

It had been a long time since she had called him by his last name over his first. Typically it only happened when she was upset, and tonight she was beyond upset. Irate may be a better term for the way she was feeling right about now.

"Wow," he huffed, shaking his head and taking a step back toward the window away from her. "I really must have pissed you off this time."

He closed his eyes for a few brief minutes and decided that the argument they were having wouldn't fix anything. Maybe it would be best for the both of them if he just left her alone for a few hours. Although, it didn't seem fair that he was going to be leaving the comfortable flat he had grown accustomed to since they had moved in not all that long ago.

Slowly he opened his eyes, meeting hers. It appeared as though she was on the verge of tears, although, that didn't come as a surprise to him. He had to push the feelings aside for the sake of his sanity. This had been going on long enough tonight, and it wasn't worth continuing the fight.

Slipping his phone out of his pocket, he slid it open as he walked past her and made his way to the door. He paused momentarily as he reached for the handle. Surely she was going to say something to him, or at least try and stop him.

He was met with silence as he turned the handle and pulled open the door. Before he stepped out of the door, he looked back over his shoulder and sighed. The noise resulted in her turning her head to look over her shoulder, but she kept her eyes focused on the ground.

"I'll be back later. I need to clear my head," he mumbled, pulling the door closed behind him. As he felt the door hit his back, Draco felt the first tear escape from the corner of his eye and roll down his cheek. "Fuck."

Hermione ran over to the door and looked out the peephole. Deep down she hoped that he was still standing on the other side of the door, but in the back of her mind, she knew the reality of the situation.

. . . . . . . . .

At some point she had collapsed back against the bed and drifted into a dreamless sleep. The bed beside her was cold. In the distance, she thought she had heard the creak of the door, but she brushed it off as her mind playing tricks on her. It wasn't until she felt the shift of the bed beside her that she realized it wasn't her mind playing tricks.

"Where'd you go?" Her voice was groggy and she was struggling to open her eyes. When they finally fluttered open, she saw him sitting there. It looked like he had been crying, or maybe it was raining outside.

Either way, it didn't matter now.

He was here.

With her.

"I needed to think," he answered, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I figured you had gone back to _him_. Tickle me surprised to find you still here."

"You always come back," she mumbled. "I didn't want you to think I hated you."

"Why would I think that?" he asked, furrowing his brow slightly. He watched as she slowly forced herself to sit up next to him.

"If I left, I figured I'd be sending you straight back to _her_ arms. I'd much rather have you here in my arms for a little while longer," she said, taking a deep breath before leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder.

He exhaled slowly, leaning down to rest his head on top of hers. Somehow he knew this conversation was coming yet again whether he wanted to discuss it or not. "Regardless of what you'd prefer, you know this can't last forever."

"I wasn't saying I expect it to last forever." She pulled away from him, shaking her head as she closed her eyes. "I know better than to think that's even possible."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She stood up from the bed and walked over to the window. "Do you really want to get into this right now? It's your birthday for fuck's sake. I know I had other plans, but if you want to fight… Let's fight."

"I don't want to fight," he grumbled, collapsing back against the bed and scrubbing his hands over his face. "Although at this point, I don't even want to be here at all."

"No one said you had to stay," she huffed, pushing the curtain out of her way and stared at her reflection in the window. She looked pathetic and from what she could see of him in the window, he didn't look much better. They were certainly a sight for sore eyes.

This wasn't supposed to be so complicated. This was supposed to simple and fun. A quick fuck when she was in the mood for such and someone to talk to when things with her husband just weren't cutting it.

"Well then," he sighed, pushing himself up off the bed. He made his way toward the door and as he reached for the door he glanced back at her over his shoulder. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again quickly and hung his head. Now wasn't the time.

He turned the knob and pulled the door open. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

He was greeted by silence. He wasn't sure why he expected anything else. This was one royally fucked up mess. Hopefully they could work through this. If not, then the ride was fun while it lasted.

As the door closed behind him, he heard her voice faintly speaking to him.

"Happy birthday, love."

. . . . . . . . .

"I thought you'd like the surprise," Mille grumbling, tossing her hands up in the air as she walked around the bed. "The promotion was a huge deal and I thought we should celebrate."

"I hate surprises!" Theo shouted, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. He knew too well that doing so right now was going to guarantee he was going to be sleeping on the couch tonight rather than in the comfortable bed that was currently separating them.

"Keep your voice down!" she hissed. Looking past him at the door, she scrubbed her hands over her face before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Do you really want to ruin the mood I've got set out there?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but closed it almost immediately. His initial thought was not the way that he wanted to respond, his preferred response was a tad bit more sarcastic. Realistically, he knew that this argument was far from over for the evening, so he would save his sarcasm for a better suited opportunity.

"Go on," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Say what came to mind just a few seconds ago."

Theo looked at her and smirked. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that her foot had started bouncing, something it always seemed to do when she got annoyed with him. The ball was in his court now and planned to make the best of his turn.

"The mood," he said, making quotations with his fingers, "you got set out there is dead. Everyone standing out there is uncomfortable being here because they know how much I hate surprises. They don't want to be here anymore than I do."

"Then leave," she scoffed, walking toward the door to their bedroom. Reaching out to the knob, she wrapped her slender fingers around it and slung it open, allowing him to be the first to leave. "Too bad you couldn't have done so without making such a scene."

Looking his wife up and down one last time, Theo made his way for the window. If he was leaving his own home, it certainly wasn't going to be out the front door in front of a crowd of their friends. He could already picture the rumors that would start flying around.

"Where do you think you're going? The door is this way." He heard her voice, but just shook his head and opened the window.

"Why would I go out the front when I can just as easily leave down the fire escape?" He stuck one foot out the window and turned to look at her one last time. "Enjoy your party, but I need to get some air."

Millie exhaled sharply and dropped her arms to the side. "Don't be like this. It was one surprise. Don't you think you could make one exception? Some of these people have been on the road all day just to be here."

"That's not the point, Millie. I have a lot to think about." Slowly he pulled his leg through the other side of the window.

"What am I supposed to tell everyone?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something. You've always been good at keeping secrets." He took a few steps toward the ladder of the fire escape and turned to look back into the window over his shoulder. She was gone, not that he blamed her.

He reached down and picked a rock up off the ground. Walking back over to the window briefly, he reached up and pulled down the glass just far enough to make it look like the window was closed. He stuck the rock in to hold it open, just in case she didn't let him back inside later on when he finally came home.

. . . . . . . . .

 _10:30 PM - Can you meet?_

 _10:31 PM - Not a good time._

 _10:32 PM - It never is, but that's not the point._

 _10:37 PM - It never is. Where do you want me to meet you?_

 _10:38 PM - The usual?_

 _10:40 PM - Ok_

 _. . . . . . . ._

"If you ever decide you want to leave him," he began to say, only to have his voice trail off as his eyes met hers. He noticed that she was shaking her head as her eyes closed slowly.

"Don't finish that sentence," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in close.

"Why not?" he replied, leaning his forehead against hers as their lips touched for the briefest of moments before she pulled back slightly.

"Because we both know the truth," she said with a sigh.

He leaned back to look at her. Their eyes meeting and the smiles fading from their lips. He noticed a sadness in her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was his own fault, or someone else's. He quickly pushed the thought aside and lowered his lips against hers.

The thoughts of reality could wait. Now was the time to indulge in a fantasy.


	6. 5: Choke Us 'Til We're Numb

**A/N:** I love when inspiration strikes for a chapter with this piece. It took me a span of three days to write and edit this chapter once I was able to find a song. Hopefully this chapter confuses you all a little bit more because I've set some things into motion to allow this story to come to a end in the near future. Don't worry, I'm not sure how near that future is.

xxDustNight88 is feeling better, so she was able to work her beta wonders magic on this chapter and SquarePeg72 alpha read it for me. Luckily these two are helping to make sure I don't accidentally reveal things too soon...or at all in some cases.

The title of this chapter is _Choke Us 'Til We're Numb_ which is a lyric from Sorry by Meg Myers. Fingers crossed inspiration strikes again soon! I just need to find the write song.

Be sure to check me out on Facebook and Tumblr if you'd like to interact with me a little more than the comment section allows. All the links are on my profile! :)

I'm considering making a place in my facebook group to talk about spoilers and theories for this story. Let me know what you think. I'm open to suggestions!

Don't forget to drop a review and let me know what you think.

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

 _1 New Voicemail 12:02 AM_

" _Hey, where are you? I've been looking for you for the past three hours? I know we had that disagreement, but if anything, I expected you to come back to the flat after at least an hour. If you aren't planning on coming home, can you at least call me to let me know you're still alive?"_

Theo listened to her voicemail for the third time as he sat on the bench in the middle of park a few blocks away from their flat. There was a part of him that knew exactly how long he had been gone from their flat, and there was also a part of him that hadn't realized exactly how long he had stayed away.

His thoughts were running rampant as he sat there. In fact, stumbling upon the bench in the park had been a complete accident. When he climbed out of the fire escape, he had every intention of going to the pub across the street for a few drinks before returning home. But when his feet hit the ground, he walked straight past the pub and kept going.

Staring at the mobile in his hands, he contemplated whether or not he was headed home tonight. On one hand, if he did go home, he'd have a place to sleep tonight. It may not be the comfortable bed that he and Millie shared, but at the very least he'd be able to sleep on the couch. On the other hand, he could go find a cheap hotel room for the night and crash there. At least then he'd have a full night's sleep before dealing with the backlash from disappearing from a party in his own home.

"Fancy finding you here," a voice said, startling him from his thoughts. As he turned toward the voice, a small smile grew on his face and he scooted over on the bench, making room for her to join him.

"What are you doing here, Hermione?" he asked, slipping his phone into his jacket pocket and then resting his forearms on his knees as he leaned forward.

"I needed some air," she replied, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What about you? Surely you haven't been sitting here long. It's freezing outside."

"Well, according to the voicemail on my mobile, I've been missing for about three hours," he admitted, hanging his head. He scrubbed his hand over the top of his head followed by his face before lifting his head back up.

Hermione looked at him for a moment and frowned. That explained the panicked phone call she had gotten earlier from Millie. As the realization washed over her, she began to wonder if she really cared about Draco as much as Millie seemingly cared about Theo. She hadn't even bothered calling him after the second hour of him leaving the flat.

He always came back before the morning. She didn't really see the point of loading up his voicemail with messages he'd listen to once and then delete. Worrying her lip, Hermione hung her head and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Theo asked, placing a gentle hand on her knee and drawing her attention back from her thoughts.

As she lifted her head, she met his eyes and smiled. There was something about his eyes that always brought a smile to her face. "Just realizing that I might be failing a little bit at my duties as a wife."

"I'm sure that's not the case. What's going on?"

"Draco and I got into a heated debate earlier and he stormed out. I didn't bother chasing after him and I _certainly_ didn't bother calling him to find out where he went. And I didn't' even bother calling friends of ours to find out if they knew were he was."

Theo furrowed his brow at her comment. "Millie called you?"

Hermione nodded. "She just wanted to know if Draco or I had heard from you after you left the flat. She mentioned something else about a party or whatever, but I wasn't really listening to what she was saying about it."

"Oh." He thought about what she had said a few moments and brushed the thoughts aside. He could deal with his own marriage later. Right now, he needed to convince his friend that she wasn't failing as a wife. "Just because you didn't call around looking for him, doesn't make you a failure. It just means that you were preoccupied trying to figure out what the hell was going on."

Hermione nodded her head slowly, allowing his words to wash over her. "I guess you're right. Or at least that Draco feels the same way when I eventually see him next. Hopefully, he'll be back when I get home."

"I'm sure he will be. Would you like me to walk you part of the way back?" Theo asked, pushing up from the bench and extending a hand to her.

Hermione looked up at him and smiled, taking the hand extended to her. "That would be lovely."

. . . . . . . .

Hearing a knock at the door, Millie dashed quickly across the flat and pulled the door open, hoping to find her husband standing on the other side of the door. "I can't believe you forgot your - Malfoy?"

Much to her disdain, a sad and pathetic looking Draco Malfoy was standing on the other side of the door with a half smile on his face that quickly faded when he found Millie standing at the door. "What are you doing here, Draco?"

Carding a hand through his hair, Draco looked down at his shoes as he mumbled something under his breath before answering her question. "I was looking for Theo."

"He's not here, but you're welcome to come in. You look cold," she replied, ushering him inside.

"Thanks," he said, nodding his head as took a few steps inside. He quickly removed his coat and set it on the back of the chair by the door. "Where is he?"

"Merlin only knows," she huffed as she pushed the door to the flat shut and walked over to the kitchen. "Tea?"

"Uh, sure," Draco replied, following her into the kitchen and taking a seat at the island. He watched as Millie moved around the kitchen, mumbling under her breath as she went. Honestly, he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do. She was obviously upset, but he didn't want to get too involved.

"Here you go," she said, placing a teacup in front of him and poured water from the kettle over the teabag. "Cream and sugar?"

"Just sugar, thanks. Do you want to talk about whatever it is you're mumbling about? I mean I know you usually talk to Hermione about these things, but I'm willing to at least listen," he asked, smiling nervously as he accepted the tea. He picked up the spoon she had set down as well and aimlessly started stirring the liquid until the cubes of sugar had dissolved.

Taking a deep breath, Millie hung her head and sighed. She didn't really want to talk to Draco about all of this, seeing as Draco was one of Theo's best friends, but Hermione wasn't answering her phone. Lifting her head, she looked him up and down for a moment before inhaling sharply.

"I may have done something to royally piss Theo off tonight and as soon as he found out, he stormed out and hasn't returned."

"Oh," Draco said, furrowing his brow as he thought about the number of things that Millie could have done to piss him off. Some days, though, it didn't take much to piss Theo off, so maybe he was just having an off day and overreacted. "Have you tried calling or texting him?"

"Have I tried calling or texting him, of course I have," she shouted, pounding her fist into the island and wincing at the sting she felt. She lifted her fist and began rubbing it with her other hand. "What kind of wife do you think I am, not trying to call him after he disappears?."

Millie continued talking, but Draco tuned her out as he thought about the question she had just asked. Thinking it over for a few moments, he reached down to his pocket and slip out his phone. Maybe Hermione had tried getting a hold of him and he just didn't hear it go off.

Slowly, he pulled the phone out of his pocket and noticed that he had a new text message. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't from his wife. Fortunately enough for he and Millie, however, he did happen to know where their significant others happened to be. He quickly shot off a text back to Theo, thanking him for the information and then brought his attention back to whatever it was Millie happened to be rambling about now, even if his mind was running a million miles a minute regarding the struggle that his marriage seemed to be going through.

. . . . . . . .

"I'm sorry I overreacted the other night," he mumbled, carding his hand through his hair roughly. His attention was drawn to his shoes, not at all where it should have been directed at that exact time. Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help noticing the sparkle of her engagement ring on her finger.

How was he supposed to compete with the man who stole her heart three years ago? He certainly didn't compete with him in high school, and there was no way that he could compete with him now. Although, he was the one standing here with her instead of him.

"You weren't overreacting," she admitted, tucking her left hand behind her back. She had noticed the sparkle of her diamond out of the corner of her eye and they didn't need that reminder right that moment. "Everything you've been feeling has been justified. If anything, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I never should have told you to leave."

He glanced up momentarily and caught her eyes, a faint smile appeared on his lips when he noticed her looking at him. She closed the space between them quickly and lifted his chin with her index finger, forcing him to look at him. Slowly, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, allowing him to take control.

Everything seemed so fragile right now. Nothing ever really seemed to be right. They were both losing sight of the reasons that there really here right now. Although, they weren't really sure that they had a true reason from the beginning.

There was no denying that they loved the ones they were married to, but there were underlying feelings here that had seemingly blossomed out of nowhere after each one said I do to someone else. Maybe it was only a matter of time until the truth came to light, or maybe things would stay hidden.

For now they could only take advantage of the moments that they together. It was beginning to seem as though that time was fleeting. Their lives outside of this hotel room were changing drastically, even if they weren't ready to admit that to one another.

As they pulled back, she leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder. She could hear the beating of his heart and she smiled. This was exactly what she needed right now. She wanted to forget about the world around her and exist only in this moment, even if that wasn't entirely possible. Reality always came back to bit her in the ass.

He rested his chin on the top of her head and inhaled the jasmine scent of her shampoo. As the aroma flooded his nostrils, his mind was flooded with memories of when they first started seeing one another. The nervousness and the thrill of being caught roared through their veins and it made things more exciting. Now, it just seemed as though this was getting to be too easy.

"I think that fight may have been for the better," he mumbled into the top of her head.

She pulled back and furrowed her brow at him, frowning as she did so. "Why do you say that?"

"I think we lost track of why we started this in the first place." He motioned between the two of them with his free hand. He watched her as she thought about what he had just said and began to wonder if that was the wrong thing to have said at that exact moment. Things were just starting to get good between them again and he didn't want to ruin it. "Forget I said anything."

"Why would I do that?" she questioned, taking a small step back from him and straightening her stance. "I think you're right."

"What did you say?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

She tossed her head back slightly with a laugh and smiled as she made eye contact with him. "I said you're right."

"I don't think I've ever heard those words come out of your mouth before." He smiled smugly as he crossed her arms over his chest, allowing her admission to wash over him. His ego always needed a little stroking and it always felt better when done by someone of the fairer sex.

"Don't get used to it," she laughed. "It's not a phrase I plan on telling you often, even if it's true at other times."

Intrigued by her comment, he quirked his brow as a smirk grew on his face. "So the thought has crossed your mind before tonight? Very interesting."

Shaking her head, she took a few steps away from him, laughing quietly to herself as she went as well as cursing her rather big mouth for letting that tidbit of information slip. This relationship seemed to work best when neither of their egos were being stroked by one another. Now other parts of her body being stroked was another thought entirely…

"Follow me," she said, motioning to him with her finger as she made her way to the bedroom. The thought had already crossed her mind, and now she couldn't think of anything else at that moment.

Noticing where she was headed, he smiled and happily chased her into the room and swiftly pushed the door shut behind them. Reality could wait a few hours longer.

. . . . . . . .

Inserting the key into the lock of their door, Draco took a deep breath. Hopefully, Hermione was somewhere inside waiting for him to talk and work this out. If she wasn't, he wasn't so sure that their marriage would be able to withstand another fight. Maybe he shouldn't have left earlier, maybe he should have stayed. Maybe he could have saved their marriage. Slowly, he opened the door with his head hung and his heart heavy.

"There you are," she said, excitedly as she placed the cup in the sink and made her way over to the door. "I was getting worried that you weren't going to come back."

She wrapped her arms cautiously around his neck and pulled him into her embrace. She held her breath as she waited for him to follow suit and wrap his arms around her waist. She was hoping that things weren't so damaged that they couldn't work past this.

Surprised by her response, Draco released the breath he had been holding and wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pulling her close to him. He gently placed his head on her shoulder and sighed happily when he felt her rest her head on his chest.

After a few moments, he lifted his head and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry I worried you. I just needed to clear my head, but I shouldn't have been gone so long."

"Don't apologize," Hermione said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "We were both at fault, maybe more so me than you, but I don't want to fight anymore."

Quirking his brow, Draco looked down at her and smiled softly. "You're actually taking the blame for something? Wow, maybe I should disappear more often after a fight."

Hermione smacked his chest playfully and shook her head. "Don't you dare! I was worried sick, but I also knew that you needed time to cool off. We both did."

Draco wrapped his arms around her tighter and pressed his lips to her forehead. "How about this? The next time one of us storms out, if we aren't back within an hour we sent out the search parties. Sound good?"

She nodded her head and pressed up on her tiptoes, allowing her lips to brush against his. "Sounds good."

. . . . . . . . .

When Theo arrived home, the flat was dark, appearing as though no one was there. As he made his way through the kitchen and sitting room, he noticed a faint light shining from beneath their bedroom door. Quietly, he made his way over to the door and knocked on it gently three times.

"Millie?" he asked, pushing the door open as he took a few steps inside. He noticed her laying on the bed, and it looked as though she had been crying. Frowning, he walked over to the bed and took a seat beside her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, rousing her from the half slumber that she had drifted off to.

"Hey," she whispered, drowsily rolling onto her back to better face him. "What time is it?"

Theo glanced over at the alarm clock beside their bed and laughed at the time. "It's a little after two am. How long have you been asleep?"

"I honestly didn't think I was asleep," she replied, laughing softly before stretching her arms above her head with a yawn. "Where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours."

"I turned my ringer off," he admitted, brushing his fingertips along her hand. "I just needed to clear my head."

"You were gone a long time," she sighed, pouting her lip as she watched his fingers dance along her skin.

"I had a lot to think about, but I'm clear headed now."

"Good."

Millie propped herself up on her elbow and leaned toward him. Theo, in turn, leaned in and brushed his lips against hers softly. As they pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers and they both sighed.

"I'm sorry about the party," she admitted, dropping her head away from his. "I know how much you hate surprises, not to mention how much you really hate parties, but I wanted to do something special."

Theo smiled and nodded his head. "I understand why you did it, and I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did."

"At least you came back home," she whispered, pressing her lips to his once more as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him on top of her.

. . . . . . . . .

The dimming light of his mobile caught her eye as she rolled over early the next morning and she groggily reached over and picked it up, curious as to why it was lit so early. Flashing across the screen was a number she didn't recognize with a message attached to it. As she read the words on the screen, her entire body went numb and she dropped the device onto the bed.

 _5:51 AM - Last night was great. We should do it again soon._

She looked down at the man sleeping next to her in the bed and the phone as it laid beside him. Shaking her head and fighting back the few tears she could feel welling up in the corner of her eyes, she picked it up to read the message one more time. Immediately, her mind jumped to the worst possible scenario and she needed to push the thoughts away. She scrubbed her hands over her eyes roughly. Maybe it was just a wrong number, it wasn't like the number was saved in his contacts.

He certainly wasn't that stupid, was he? Sure things had been difficult lately, but she didn't think things had been so bad that he would have resorted to finding someone else. Her mind began to flood with images of him with another woman and the damn that had been holding back the tears burst.

After a few moments, she wiped the tears away from her cheeks and took a deep breath. Now was not the time for a mental break down. She wasn't even sure what the message was about. For now there was only one thing she could do, she placed his mobile face down on the nightstand and collapsed back down on the bed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Maybe if she was able to drift back to sleep, she could forget the whole thing and she could forget she had ever seen the message.

If that message was anything more than a wrong number, then she needed to figure out a way to salvage her marriage before it fell apart completely. Hopefully it wasn't too late.


	7. 6:We are Problems that want to be Solved

**A/N:** I finally have an update for this story. I know it may have felt like awhile, trust me, you weren't alone in those thoughts. I do have an announcement about this story as well. I will be closing this story out in 10 chapters, which means we have 4 more chapters to see what's going to happen. I still have a few twists and turns left for the remaining chapters and I hope that you enjoy the chapter that is ahead for you to read.

xxDustNight88 was able to work her beta wonders magic on this chapter and SquarePeg72 alpha read it for me. Be sure to check out both of them. They are hands down some of my favorite authors to read, especially when I'm in need of a good pick me up, even if some of their stories are the angstiest things I've ever read.

The title of this chapter is _We are Problems that want to be Solved_ which is a lyric from What About Us by P!nk.

Check me out on social media if you're interested. All the links are on my profile! Or you can find me by searching starrnobella on most social media aspects. :)

I love reading your thoughts as to what you think is going on. I think this is beginning to become one of my favorite stories that I've ever written, even if it rips my heart out most of the time.

Love always,

~starr

* * *

 _5:51 AM - Last night was great. We should do it again soon._

He stared at the message until the screen faded to black. He didn't recognize the number she had sent it, but that didn't mean anything. She was sending text messages out left and right for work, so often times, the numbers weren't saved, only texted when she would need them.

Taking a deep breath, he quietly placed the phone back down on the nightstand and got up from the bed. Maybe he was reading more into it than it really was. What he needed right now was a hot shower and to push all of his frenzied thoughts aside. There was no point in getting worked up over something that could very well mean nothing at all.

After he had some time to think about everything and a cup of coffee in hand, the two of them could sit down and talk about what that text meant. The one saving grace of their marriage was their honesty when directly asked about a situation. Although, if he was going to expect her to be honest in this situation, then he was certain that she would have a few questions of her own. Questions that he wasn't quite sure he was ready to answer.

Stepping into the shower, he turned on the faucet and allowed the water to fall over his face. The thought that she could have been with someone else last night sent a shiver down his spine. He knew too well that she wouldn't have been pleased with how he had chosen to spend his evening, but at least he had covered his tracks. She left hers out in the open for all to see.

He scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair, pushing the water out of his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath. Shaking his head, he allowed his mind to push the thoughts that were running rampant aside and focused on the task at hand. He allowed himself to get lost in happier thoughts for the remainder of his shower.

Wrapping his towel around his waist, he stepped up to the mirror and looked at the steam that had coated it. It was peaceful, unlike his thoughts at that exact moment. The two of them had a lot to talk about. He only hoped that he was ready to deal with it all.

He reached forward and wiped away some of the steam from the glass. Looking at his reflection, he took a deep breath and sighed. He noticed the bags that hung beneath his eyes and shook his head. What he really needed was a few more hours of sleep, but the few that he had managed to get were all he was capable of and for that he was grateful.

. . . . . . . .

"What do you mean they sent the wrong press release in?"

Draco's voice roused her from her sleep as she rolled onto her back and smacked at the leg she felt laying beside her. She heard him laugh as he stood up and walked out into the hallway. Sighing, she shook her head and tossed the blanket off her lap. She was wide awake now, so she might as well make the most of it and get ready to start her day.

"So call them and tell them to run a different article in its place _or_ send them the proper release."

She chuckled to herself as she listened to his conversation. This certainly wasn't how he wanted to start off his Saturday morning, she was sure. However, it wasn't like he wasn't used to this kind of wake up call. It seemed to happen every single time his company had a large event that was going to be covered by the local press. The problem could probably be avoided if Draco would just fire the press manager in his division and hire someone competent, not that he would actually follow through with it in the end.

Rolling her eyes, she stood up from the bed and made her way over to the bathroom. She needed to wash her face and get started with her day. Even if it was the weekend, she still had places she needed to be and things that needed her attention.

Speaking of which, Hermione glanced down at the counter and realized that she hadn't grabbed her phone off the nightstand. She quickly walked back into the bedroom and spotted the device lying exactly where she had left it the night before. She picked her phone up and scrolled through it aimlessly as she went about the rest of her morning.

There were text messages and emails piling up that she had been ignoring over the last seventy-two hours. People might begin to wonder where she was hiding out and she didn't really need people asking any additional questions regarding her whereabouts. There are only so many ways she could fib about her exact whereabouts lately. She wasn't proud of her behavior, but anyone who knew the reality of the situation probably would have done the same thing.

Taking one last scroll through the messages on her phone, Hermione set her phone on the counter and stepped into the shower. She tilted her head back and let the water to fall over her body, taking a deep breath before leaning her face into the water. The heat of the water helped to relax the tension she could feel building in her muscles.

This was going to be her only time to relax until she finally collapsed in her bed this evening. Hopefully, work would pull Draco away for a few hours so that she could focus on everything that she needed to get done for the day. She'd keep her fingers crossed for that anyways.

Just as the thought had made its way through her mind, she heard the door to the bathroom open and close. Taking a deep breath she stepped toward the shower and waited for him to step inside with her. She kept her eyes closed and sighed when she felt his arms wrap around her waist. She leaned her head back and rested it against his shoulder.

"So who's fault was it this time?" she mumbled.

"Same person as last time," he replied, pressing his lips to the side of her head. Slowly, he pulled his head away and took a deep breath. "Whose bright idea was it to hire both of the Patil twins? Neither one of them is competent on their own, let alone when you put both of them in the same building. I swear some days that makes them worse."

Hermione leaned away from him and turned around. "They're our friends, Draco. Don't be so mean. They are trying their hardest, and if you wouldn't have offered Parvati that job, you know exactly what would have happened to both of them."

"I know, I know," he said, scrubbing his hand over his face. "I'm just getting sick and tired of dealing with this same issue every couple weeks."

"So talk to them about the issue," she said, turning back to face the water as she ran her hands through her tangled curls. "Nothing can get better if its never dealt with."

"Speaking of which," Draco hummed. "I saw a text message on your phone this morning that made me a little curious about something…"

With brow furrowed, Hermione sighed and turned back to look at him over her shoulder. "And what were you doing looking at my phone?"

"I saw the light when I rolled over at one point."

"So what did it say?"

Draco inhaled deeply and carded a hand through his now damp hair before scrubbing it over his face. He didn't want to have this conversation like this. He had honestly hoped that she would have brought it up herself, but he knew that she never would. He took a deep breath and tilted his head back as the words left his mouth.

"Is everything okay with the store? There was a message from your building manager and it looked like you were behind on the rent. I just wanted to know if there was something I could do to help," he said, putting forward his best half smile.

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Hermione spun carefully on her heel to face him as the water cascaded down her naked back once more. She closed the space between them and pressed up on her toes, gently pushing her lips to his and kissed him softly. "Everything with the store is fine. She was letting me know that the missing checks from the last two months had finally appeared. She took my word for it because I had the receipts from her office, but someone misplaced them."

"Two months worth of missing checks? Wouldn't you think that she'd want to find those a little quicker than she did?"

Hermione laughed, shaking her head as she lowered herself back down. "It turns out that she has her own set of Patil twins working for her and misplacing the more important items."

"You mock, but at least you understand my frustration," he said, reaching out to wrap his arms around her waist once more. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers once again, allowing the water to fall over their faces. "Do you have to go into the shop today? Please tell me no."

Pulling back, Hermione furrowed her brow and nodded her head. "I have to go in at least for the morning, but if I really work hard, I might be able to leave before lunch. I can't make any promises though."

"Damn, okay. I was hoping I could use you as an excuse to not go in and fix this mess, but I guess I will make the trip into the office. Then we can go to that coffee shop down the street that you seem to like so much?"

"That sounds like a plan to me," Hermione said happily. "But you'll have to let go of me so I can finish my shower and get ready for the day."

Draco let out a loud sigh and dropped his hands from her waist. "Fine, I guess, but don't hog all the hot water."

. . . . . . . .

Theo was in the midst of cooking a delicious breakfast when Millie finally found her way into the kitchen that morning. The delectable smell of bacon, eggs and pancakes had floated their way down the hallway and into the bedroom, rousing her from the deep slumber that she had been enjoying.

As she rounded the door into the kitchen, she smiled when she saw him standing in front of the stove with an apron tied around his waist. This was a few she could definitely get used seeing every morning. Why couldn't every day be Saturday?

Normally, the two of them barely had time to grab a Poptart or breakfast bar before they had to run out the door to get to work. Part of that could have been their extended shower that they tended to take every morning, but that was something neither of them wanted to cut out of their daily routine.

Leaning up against the door frame, she crossed her arms over chest and smiled as she watched him for a few minutes. He had his favorite radio station playing and a cup of coffee cooling on the counter beside him as he worked. It seemed like he was in his element. Maybe that's why he worked for one of the best restaurants in their little town. His ability to cook may have been one of the many reasons she had decided to marry him.

As she was watching him, their wedding song came on the radio and suddenly she heard him burst out singing the words at the top of his lungs. When an instrumental piece came along she heard him mumble something under his breath, but his intonation was not something she could hear clearly.

"What was that?" she asked, laughing quietly to herself at the way he spun around quickly to see her standing in the doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, quirking his brow as a smile played at the corner of his lips.

"Long enough to hear you butcher the first verse of our wedding song," she replied, walking across the kitchen and wrapping her arms around his waist as she nuzzled her head into his chest. "What I was curious about, though, was what you mumbled under your breath as the instrumental piece came on…"

Theo tilted his head to the ceiling and thought back over the last few minutes and everything that happened to make it out of his mouth. As the exact words he mumbled came to mind, his eyes grew wide and he realized that he couldn't tell her exactly what he said. Time to make something up that wouldn't make him seem like a royal arse.

"I was just mumbling about how lucky I am to have you in my life," he said, leaning down to press his lips to the top of her head and smiled.

"Liar," she said with a laugh, tipping her head back to look at him with a smile on her face. "But I love you anyways. So do I smell bacon, eggs, and pancakes?"

"Waffles actually," he said, kissing her quickly before stepping out of her embrace and turning his attention back to the stove and waffle maker on the counter.

"When did we get a waffle maker?" Millie asked, furrowing her brow as she stepped up beside him to watch him cook.

"I think it was from Draco and Hermione for our wedding," he replied, reaching over to flip the waffle over and grabbing a wooden spoon out of the caddie before stirring the eggs in the pan. "Although, it could have been your mother too. Who knows."

"I think you're right with Draco and Hermione. I remember her telling me about all these recipes we could try to make waffles more than just a breakfast food," Millie said, nodding her head slowly. "Is there anything that I can do to help the process along?"

"Do you mind setting the table for me?"

"Sure thing!"

Spinning on the balls of her feet, Millie made her way to the cabinets and gathered the dishes that she needed and then she made grabbed some silverware before heading to the table to deliver everything and put everything in its place.

"How's your coffee?" she asked, glancing back at his cup over her shoulder.

Theo looked down at the mug out of the corner of his eye and picked it up, quickly taking a swig of the beverage and then setting it back down. He pulled a face and looked back over his shoulder at Millie and then smiled. "It could stand a refill."

"I'm on it," she said, spinning around and walking over to take his coffee cup away before making her way over to the coffee pot. As she poured his coffee the strong aroma flooded her nose and reminded her of a simpler time of their lives. A time that wasn't flooded with work and secrets and fighting, not that they were fighting right now. But with the two of them, she could never be certain when a fight might break out.

"Thanks, love. Breakfast should be ready in two minutes." Theo scrapped the wooden spoon around the edges of the pan once last time before he took the pan over to the table and began plating the dishes.

Millie watched as he placed each item of food on the plate in a specific spot, making sure that each plate looked identical. She fought the urge she felt to roll her eyes at his need for everything to be perfect. Just because it didn't seem to make sense to her, didn't mean she should judge him for wanting to do it.

"You know our kitchen isn't a five star restaurant, right?" she said, watching as he placed the dirty pans in the sink. She smiled when he turned to face her and she walked across the room to wrap her arms around his waist as she pressed up on her toes, kissing him gently.

"I know its not," he replied, interlacing his fingers against the small of her back. "But it's good practice to keep up with my skills, even when I'm just cooking breakfast for my beautiful wife." He tilted his head down to kiss her once more before pulling away and taking her by the hand to lead her to the table.

"You're too sweet," she said, taking a seat at the table. "Everything looks delicious."

Theo nodded his head and smiled, picking up his fork. "Let's eat."

. . . . . . . . .

"She knows about us."

"What are you talking about?"

Noticing the panicked look in her eyes, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest. He squeezed her tightly as he took a deep breath and rested his chin on top of her head. He could feel her starting to shake as he held her. Everything that needed to be said could wait a few minutes. Right now he needed to comfort her and then together they could figure out what they were going to do.

He had his turn to freak out this morning when he realized that his _lovely_ wife had moved his phone. Obviously the two of them had things to talk about, but right now he was exactly where he was supposed to be. This discussion was more important because it affected two marriages, not just one.

The more he thought about everything involved with this relationship, the more he could feel himself starting to panic in his own mind. He couldn't do that right now. He needed to be strong for both of them. If things went wrong, then he could lose both of the women he had come to love over the years.

He took a deep breath and looked down at the woman in his arms. When he had fallen in love with her, it wasn't expected. In fact, he didn't even think that it was possible to love someone in the same way that he loved his wife. This had gotten more complicated than either of them had ever planned it to be. It was supposed to be a one time thing. Or at least that was what they had managed to convince themselves of for the time being.

"How did things get so complicated?" Her voice was barely above a whisper as it brought him back from the thoughts he had been lost it. Leaning away from her, he looked down at her and noticed the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.

He reached up and brushed a stray tear away from her cheek and kissed her lips softly. He could feel her lips starting to turn up into a smile underneath his lips, bringing a smile to his own face. "We'll work this out. We always do."

"But what if we don't?" She furrowed her brow at him and frowned. It was obvious from the look on her face that she did not want to be having this conversation right now, but there was nothing that was going to stop it from happening.

"Why are you so focused on the negative side of all of this? Besides it wasn't like _he_ found the message on your phone."

She tilted her head to the side and just looked at him, dumbfounded at the sheer frankness in his comment. Did he really think that he was expected to deal with this all on his own? She couldn't imagine that was the way he meant that last comment, like she wouldn't understand what he was going through since it wasn't her marriage that was standing on sinking sand.

"What would you like me to focus on then?" she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest as she took a large step back from him and fought the urge to roll her eyes. Her mind was telling her that she needed to leave and not look back. Her heart, on the other hand, was pleading with her to stay and work this out.

She was in love with both the man standing in front of her and the man she was married to. It wasn't a simple situation and they knew that when the two of them decided to make this a regular thing. It was a sacrifice she was under the impression that they were both willing to take. Maybe he wasn't so sure about all of this anymore. To be honest, she couldn't really blame him at this point.

Things were getting more and more complicated, and there wasn't anything either one of them were willing to do to fix the problems that were starting to arise. It was a powder keg on the verge of explosion and they were both walking a very fine line.

This evening's visit could end one of two ways and neither one was looking forward to the way this conversation might end.

"You could focus on me," he said, his voice trailing off as he took a step forward in an attempt to close the space that had grown between them. However, instead of her welcoming his embrace, she took another step backwards, shaking her head as she put her arms up to keep him a distance away.

"Sure, we can focus on you, but you aren't going to like the topics I choose to talk about," she said, her eyes searching his face for any indication as to whether or not he was taking her hint.

"You want to figure out the next steps," he said, hanging his head as he took a deep breath. "Are you sure there's nothing else you'd rather talk about, or maybe do?"

He started to take a step forward, only to be met by a firm "stop" escaping her lips. There was a curtness there that he wasn't used to hearing directed at him. In fact, it was usually a tone that was directed at her husband when he would call during their time together. He would listen to her side of the conversation and smile at the fact that all the call would do was stick another nail in the coffin that was their marriage.

He shook his head quickly and pushed the thoughts aside. He really needed to stop thinking that way about his best friend's marriage. Although, the more he thought about it, he realized that if the situation was magically reversed, his best friend wouldn't be sleeping with his wife. There was a loyalty between the two of them that had been inadvertently shattered a long time ago and if the truth ever came out, things could never be reversed. There was nothing that could be said to fix any of the damage that had been caused in secret over the last few years.

"Not so full of answers now, are you?" she scoffed, turning away from him and making her way over to the window. "I was beginning to wonder when that fountain of answers would run dry. I knew it couldn't last forever."

She stared down at the street below them and sighed. All of this insanity could have been avoided, but no, neither one of them could be happy with their lives the way that they were destined to be. It wasn't that the marriages were wrong, but there always seemed to be something missing. Something that this current arrangement had always managed to fill in. But as she stood here now, looking out the window, she couldn't figure out for the life of her what that was supposed to be.

"What about us?" His voice called to her from behind. He sounded defeated, and to a point that made her smile. For once it was him who was concerned about the two of them and not only her. Somehow, together, they would find a way to make this work, but for tonight they needed to go their separate ways.

"I think that tonight," she began, still staring out into the night looking for answers that couldn't be found in this small room, "we should go our separate ways and try to save what's left of our own marriages. We'll always have this room and maybe, after some time, we'll be able to return here and live happy lives at home."

"Is that really what you want?" The sound of his voice startled her. She hadn't realized that he had closed the space between them and was now looking into the darkness along with her. Although, he wasn't touching her as she hoped he would have done.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head back onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. Everything was so fucked up and it was beginning to appear that things would never change. Maybe going their separate ways was for the best.

Keeping her eyes closed, she lifted her head and slowly turned to face him. "Yes, it's what I want. Right now, my marriage is more important than whatever _this_ is."

She brushed past him and made her way to the door, refusing to look back. If she saw his face, she'd never make it the door. She'd stop and run back into his arms, allowing him to carry her to the bed and have his way with her. Things would never change. This was the only way they could move forward.

Reaching forward and wrapping her slender fingers around the door knob, she finally heard his voice crack through the silence. Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes as she heard him call to her.

"Don't go."

The dam that was holding back the tears broke as she turned the knob and pulled open the door. She walked through the door without turning back to see him and as the door was closing behind her finally spoke. "I'm sorry."

. . . . . . . . . .

"Hey, where have you been?"

Instead of answering his question, she crossed the empty space between them in the kitchen and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck, she took a deep breath. She smiled at the familiar scents that flooded her nose.

His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to him as he buried his nose in her hair. They stayed there for a few moments in silence, basking in the calm serenity that had taken over the room. Neither one of them ready to break the silence and come to terms with the reality of the world that had set in around them.

"I missed you today. Conversations with people ran long and my phone died without me even realizing it," she mumbled into his neck.

"I missed you too," he replied, squeezing her tightly and kissing the top of her head.

. . . . . . . . . .

"What happened to calling it an early night?"

Her voice was cold as he entered the flat. He bit back the retort that had immediately come to mind and made his way over to where she was standing, bringing his hand up to cup the back of her neck and crashing his lips against hers.

Slowly, his other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into him. After a few moments of silent resistance, her arms came to rest around his neck as she leaned more into the kiss. She raised up on her tiptoes and brought her hands up to cup his face. Their embrace only last a few seconds before both of his hands dropped to her waist and picked her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he led them to the bedroom.

With a swift kick of his foot, the door slammed closed behind them as they allowed themselves to be lost in the night. Any other discussions could wait until morning.


	8. 7: Caution Tape Around My Heart

**A/N:** Hello darlings! I am back with an update for this mysterious little tale. Part of the reason for that is the simple fact that this tale was nominated in the Beyond the Book Nook Fanfiction's 2018 Summer Awards. It was nominated in four categories! I am beyond shocked that I was even nominated for one, especially since I was nominated in the Best Overall story up against some amazing authors.

Along with Best Overall, I was nominated for Best Angst, Best WIP, and Best Drama. Like I said before I'm just in awe and I can't believe it. If you are interested in voting for my story, please reach out to me on social media and I will send you the link to vote. I know I would greatly appreciate the votes because it's very rare that I get nominated in awards. Thank you to whoever it is that nominated me, just know it means the world.

xxDustNight88 was able to work her beta wonders magic on this chapter and SquarePeg72 alpha read it for me. Be sure to check out both of them. They are hands down some of my favorite authors to read, especially when I'm in need of a good pick me up, even if some of their stories are the angstiest things I've ever read.

The title of this chapter is _Caution Tape Around My Heart_ which is a lyric from i hate u, i love u by gnash.

Check me out on social media if you're interested. All the links are on my profile! Or you can find me by searching starrnobella on most social media aspects. :)

Let me know if you'd like the link to vote!

The early update is just for NathanielCardeu! Go show him some love!

I love reading your thoughts as to what you think is going on. I think this is beginning to become one of my favorite stories that I've ever written, even if it rips my heart out most of the time.

Love always,

~starr

* * *

Rolling over, he reached out expecting to curl up next to the warmth of her body, but when his hand landed on the cool mattress, his eyes flickered open. He pushed up on an elbow and attempt to look around the room, but in the darkness couldn't really see anything. There was a passing thought in his mind as to where she had disappeared to, but as the thought exited his mind, his hand reached out for his mobile.

There was a small part of him that had hoped there was a message waiting for him on his mobile from _her_. They hadn't spoken in several days and the lack of communication was starting to wear on him. Certainly their fight hadn't been minor, but at the same time they had been involved in fights much worse.

He had hoped that by giving her space, she would come to him. However, as time continued to pass on, he didn't see that happening. This time he might have to be the one to reach out first. Obviously trying to ignore the issues that had begun to bubble up in their relationship had not been the right steps to take. The entire experience was a new thing for both of them, and it quite possibly required a bit of a learning curve.

Each new fight led to a new discovery about the other's triggers and this last fight may have pulled one too many. Only time would tell if they were going to be able to move past this.

Scrolling down to her name in the messages on his mobile, his thumb hovered over their conversation as he contemplated sending her a message. What was he supposed to say to the woman who he had fallen head over heels in love with while still being in love with the woman that he shared this bed with? It seemed as though no words would fix the fissure that had formed between them. All that silence had managed to accomplish was deepening the cut.

He wasn't willing to admit that he missed her, but deep in his heart he knew there was something missing in his life. It felt as though there was a piece of himself missing when she wasn't talking to him.

Allowing his thumb to hover no longer, he pressed down and opened their conversation. Nothing would be resolved if they continued to remain silent. One of them had to break it for the sake of whatever their relationship had turned into.

 _4:25 AM: Are you ever going to speak to me again?_

 _4:25 AM: Did you mean it when you said we were through? I'm not sure that I can go on living without you…_

 _4:25 AM: Things really won't be the same if you aren't still in my life._

He glanced at the time on his mobile and furrowed his brow as he looked around their small bedroom. Where the bloody hell had his wife disappeared to? It was 4:30 in the morning and the last time he had checked, she never had to be up for work before seven.

Groaning, he rolled over to his side and pushed himself up into a seated position. A chill ran up his spine as his feet hit the floor. There was something in the air, but he couldn't exactly put a finger on it. It would be better to get out of bed now and deal with whatever storm that was brewing now, rather than dealing with it in the morning after a few more hours of sleep. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the bed.

He made his way slowly toward the door and noticed the sitting room light brightening the small hallway. As he took a few steps into the hall, he heard the soft murmur of music drifting down the hall. The tune sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place the title or the singer.

"Who's singing?" he asked as rounded the corner into the room. He noticed that she was curled up on the couch under an afghan sound asleep.

He smiled and leaned down, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead. He picked up the remote from off the couch beside her arm and aimed it over his shoulder, shutting off the stereo and placing the remote on the coffee table. Turning his attention back to her sleeping form, he leaned down and slipped his hands underneath her, picking her up and he slowly made his way back to the bedroom. He glanced back over his shoulder at the lamp. That could wait until he had returned her to the bed.

. . . . . . . . .

The flickering light of her mobile stirred her from the light slumber that she had been able to drift off to within the last few hours. She knew exactly what was causing the screen to flash, and honestly, all she wanted to do was pick up the damn device and just give him a call. She wanted to do was hear his voice once again.

She missed him. There was certainly no denying that, but there had been too much damage done already and nothing either of them could do would fix any of it. Maybe if she just continued to ignore him, and everyone else in the world, things would be simpler. Things might even begin to return to normal for her, not that she was sure what normal was anymore.

In the darkness, she heard the faint buzzing of her mobile on the nightstand. Cursing under her breath, she reached out and grabbed the device. She squinted at the screen and sighed. Of course that would be the name that was causing her insomnia. Why was she not surprised?

Glancing at the sleeping man lying beside her, she took a deep breath and lifted the blanket off of her, sliding out from underneath it. As her feet hit the floor, she shivered at the coolness of the wooden surface. The feeling was oddly calming, but at the same time she became increasingly aware of the suspicious behavior she was currently exhibiting.

As she rose from the bed, she glanced back at him over her shoulder and sighed before picking her mobile up off the nightstand and making her way toward the door. She didn't know whether or not she felt guilty about leaving him alone in bed to check for messages from another man or if she was proud of herself for doing so.

She slowly turned the doorknob and heard a sharp inhale of breath coming from the bed behind her. She froze in place and waited for the restless sounds to subside. There was a part of her that hoped he would just think she had rolled closer to the side of the bed and wouldn't realize that she was completely missing. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she found herself shaking her head and judging herself for her own behavior.

When it seemed that all the noise had settled from the bed, she quickly opened the door and cracked it open just enough for her to sneak out. Turning on the flashlight app, she lit the hallway in front of her as she pulled the door shut behind her. She hoped that the click of the latch wasn't loud enough to wake him from what she assumed to be a light sleep with how soon after she had left the bed he had moved.

She made her way quickly down the hall and into the kitchen. Reaching for the kettle, she decided that a cup of tea was in order. She needed to decide if it was really worth finding out what he had to say after almost two weeks of them not talking. In her mind, space was exactly what he needed when he didn't fight for her to stay with him.

Was it really too much to want to be fought for by someone you believed to love you? She wasn't sure of the answer to that question, but at the same time she didn't want to admit that she had been thinking about someone else when the rings on her finger was placed there by another man. She glanced down at the rings and sighed. Something needed to be done or said, but in all honesty she had no idea what.

Making her way into the living room, she collapsed onto the couch and buried her head into the pillows. Part of her wanted nothing more than for her mobile to ring and flash his name across the screen. However, she knew the likelihood of that happening was slim to none. She knew he had taken what she said to heart at their last encounter. As much as she hated herself for saying what she did, it had to be said. It was needed to save both marriages in the long run.

Sliding her finger across the screen she tapped on her messages icon and closed her eyes. She had noticed the red badge on the app telling her that there was something waiting for her, but she hadn't taken the time to see who they were from. At the same time, however, she didn't remember the device notifying her that someone had been trying to reach her. She slowly peaked her eyes open and saw his name in bold at the top of the list of messages.

Almost immediately she closed out of the app and tossed the mobile across the couch. It landed with a thud against the armrest by her feet. Covering her face with her hands, she took in a deep breath and held it for a matter of moments. This was exactly what she had wanted, wasn't it? She wanted him to reach out ot her, but at the same time she knew that they were going to fall back into the same spiral they had been spinning in for the last year if she answered him right now. They were trying to better themselves and save their marriages. Not save the relationship they had built with one another, right?

At this point, she really wasn't sure what they were trying to do. All she knew was that she wanted to pick up her mobile and give him a call. She wanted nothing more than to hear his voice and know that everything was going to be okay. She wanted to know that they were going to work everything out together, since that's the way they always seemed to work. But she knew better. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

She leaned forward, reaching out out to pick up the device and she pressed the home button lighting up the screen. She started at the time on the clock. _4:45 am._ What on earth was she doing awake? She slowly slid open the screen on her mobile and looked at the messages that had been waiting there for her.

Just twenty short minutes ago he was trying to get a hold of her, but she wasn't there to answer readily. Twenty minutes ago he was thinking about her instead of his wife. If only she had checked her phone a little earlier, then maybe things would be different.

Pushing away the thoughts that were starting to flood her mind, she clicked on his name and skimmed over the words on the screen. Her heart ached as she read over what he had to say. Everything that he portrayed in three short messages were things that she had been feeling herself since she walked away. Up until now, she hadn't' been able to even admit that to herself. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to type up a response. Maybe if she didn't want the words appear on her screen, she'd actually be able to hit send.

 _4:46 AM: I want to mean the things I said, but my heart says something completely different. I haven't been sleeping well. Have you?_

She exhaled as she pressed send. Only time would tell if he really missed her or if he was just testing the waters to see if she'd respond. She hoped that by ending the message with a question it would entice him to respond, even if he really didn't want to talk to her.

 _4:47 AM: You responded… Is everything okay? Do I need to come get you?_

She smiled at the screen. He was always so caring and thoughtful, even if he seemed to worry a tad too much. Especially when she would reply in the wee hours of the morning.

 _4:47 AM: I'd be lying if I said that everything was okay, but you don't need to come get me. I don't think that us seeing each other is the right thing to do right now._

 _4:48 AM: Why not? If it's what we both want, then we should give our hearts what they want._

 _4:49 AM: Just so we can fight about the fact that it won't ever just be the two of us?_

 _4:49 AM: I'm so sick of fighting._

 _4:49 AM: I just want to be with you. I don't care about everything else that is going on. I'm going crazy not seeing you or even just talking to you. I need you..._

Her breath caught in her throat at his last message. As much as she hated the fighting, she knew that she needed to be careful around him. Too many feelings were starting to get involved and they were making her question her feelings about her marriage and the sleeping man in her bed. She shook her head furiously and pushed the thoughts aside. Now was not the time to be thinking about her husband.

She glanced down at her screen and noticed the bubble flashing dots at the bottom of the screen. Part of her wanted to just shut off her phone and go back to bed, snuggle up next to her husband and spend the better part of the next hour or so lost in his embrace and kisses. However, the stronger part of her wanted to continue this conversation just to see where it goes.

The soft buzzing of her mobile pulled her back out of her thoughts and she looked down at the messages on the screen. A soft smile pulled at the corner of her lips. Sighing contentedly, she sunk down in the sofa and typed off a response.

. . . . . . . . .

A sense of panic rushed through her body and she jolted straight up, trying to take a few deep breaths as she looked around the room in an attempt to figure out where she was. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep on the couch in the sitting room, and now she was laying in bed with the blankets tucked in tightly around her.

Glancing to the side, she noticed her husband sleeping soundly. Her panicked awakening didn't even cause him to stir. Frustrated with his lack of concern for her, she thought about her course of action for a brief second and then swiftly kicked him in the leg.

A muffled groan rose up from the other side of the bed, but otherwise there was no response. Rolling her eyes, she swung her leg out again and also smacked his back, hard enough to sting her hand slightly. This time she got the reaction she had been hoping for.

He rolled over onto his back and scrubbed his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes before lowering them back to his side. "I was sleeping, you know?"

"I'm pretty sure I was sleeping too, but you felt the need to move me," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she slumped down against her pillow. "You could have at least woken me up before you moved me."

"I tried," he replied, laughing softly as he reached an arm out and wrapped it around her shoulders. He pulled her close to his chest and smiled when he felt her nuzzle her head against his chest. "You mumbled something at me and then turned your face into the armrest of the couch."

"I was comfortable," she pouted.

"Didn't look like it to me," he replied, squeezing her shoulder tightly. "Besides, I was lonely in this big bed all by myself."

She laughed, wrapping her arm around his waist and squeezing him tight. "You didn't even know I had left. Hell, it took me kicking you twice and smacking you to get you to wake up just now."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I knew you had left. Something deep in my soul told me that I was alone."

She smacked his stomach gently. "Just admit it, you had no idea until you rolled over and reached out for me. Just like you do every night around four am."

Furrowing his brow, he looked down at her puzzled. As though she sensed the odd look, she tilted her head back and smiled slyly at him. She snickered briefly before leaning back forward and continued listening to his heartbeat.

Closing her eyes softly, she let out a gentle hum. That subconscious cuddle session was one of her favorite things to experience in the middle of the night. Every night that she was roused from her slumber to cuddle, made for the next day to be slightly more enjoyable. Even if she was missing a key amount of time from her normal night's sleep.

He opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again quickly. It was best he not point out that he had no idea what she was talking about. Even if he did, his mind was most likely not in the same sweet place that she probably thought it was when he would reach out for her. It was not often that he remembered his dreams, but he knew what he had been dreaming about just before he found the empty bed. He was certain that she would not be pleased with where his mind had been at that exact moment.

As his mind drifted off to thoughts of his dreams, he heard the soft buzzing of one of their mobile devices. It sounded as though it was right beside him, indicating that it was his own, but right now his focus needed to be on the woman in his arms. The messages coming in could wait until later in the morning.

She had heard the buzzing and almost stirred from his arms, but she knew that this was where she was supposed to be. Whoever was trying to get ahold of her had to know that she was most likely asleep. Just because she may have answered them at this ungodly hour one night, didn't mean she was willing to do it again or that she was even able to without drawing suspicion to herself. Tomorrow was another day.

. . . . . . . .

 _5:01 AM: When I can see you again?_

 _5:01 AM: When we quit lying to everyone we are supposed to love…_

 _5:02 AM: That could be an entire lifetime. I can't wait that long to hold you in my arms. Don't you know that I love you?_

 _5:02 AM: Yes I know and you know that I love you too…_

 _5:02 AM: But?_

 _5:04 AM: I hate that I love you..._


	9. 8: 'Cause We're Never Alone

**A/N:** Hello my loves! I'm back with another chapter for you in this exciting tale. As I post this, I am overcome with emotion at the fact that I only have two more chapters to write and I am already planning how I want the story to end. I will tell you this, you will hate me and I'm not even sorry.

The Summer awards over at Beyond the Book Nook came to a close earlier this month and the winners were notified this morning. Turn Around Bright Eyes came in runner up in Favorite WIP, Favorite Drama, and Favorite Overall for Rare Pairs in all three categories. I want to thank everyone who voted for me durin gthe timeframe of the awards.

This chapter was run through Grammerly and read over by SquarePeg72. I apologize profusely for any errors you may find.

The title of this chapter is _'Cause We're Never Alone_ which is a lyric from Somebody Else by The 1970s which was suggested as a song by the lovely xxDustNight88.

Check me out on social media if you're interested. All the links are on my profile! Or you can find me by searching starrnobella on most social media aspects. :)

I love reading your thoughts as to what you think is going on! Some of the theories I have seen are fascinating. I'm looking at you, Nathaniel and Jessi!

Love always,

~starr

* * *

He finally found her hidden in her study. There were books spread around her on the floor, and she had one in her lap. He shook his head as he walked over to where she was curled up on the couch in the corner. It wasn't the first time she had disappeared to this exact spot of their small flat, and he was certain that it wouldn't be the last time she did either. It was her favorite room after all so he would hope that she spent time there. It brought a smile to his face every time he thought about how excited she had been when he unveiled the finished project to her.

As he arrived at the couch, he leaned down and started picking up some of the books that surrounded her. He made a neat pile of them on the end table. He wasn't entirely sure where she had gotten them from, so if he could at least pile them up nicely, then she could resort them in the morning. The book that was going to be difficult to get out of her grasps was the one in her hands. The last time he had tried to take a book away from her, she had attempted to bite him. It didn't matter that she was snoring. As soon as he tugged at that book, she growled and snapped reaching for the person trying to take her book.

Gently, he sat down in the empty space beside her on the couch and leaned over, kissing her forehead softly. She smiled and nuzzled her head into his kiss, relaxing him slightly with the task at hand. This way she at least knew it was a friend trying to take away her book. He reached out and started to pull at the book gently. As he expected, she pulled back on the book pressing it tightly against her chest. A low groan escaped her lips, and she shook her head.

"Love, you need to let go of the book so I can put it away," he whispered, kissing her temple once again. She didn't move, but he could feel the pressure on the book tighten once again. He shook his head and chuckled softly to himself. "You know, you'd be much comfier if you were sleeping in bed and not on this couch. But you can't go to bed until you give up the book. Can I have it please?"

In her tired state, she was able to shake her head no and tightened her grip even more on the book. No one could take her books away from her and besides who needed to sleep in a bed anyways. She was perfectly fine right here.

"Alrighty then, I guess I'll just be headed to bed all alone, with no one to snuggle with," he hummed, frowning slightly as he pushed himself up off the couch. He took a few steps toward the door when he heard her groan and roll onto her side. As he turned back to look at her over his shoulder, he noticed that she was partially awake and had started to put the book down on the couch. He smiled and made his way back to the couch. He took the book out of her hands and placed it on the couch before wrapping her up in his arms and picking her up into a bridal carry. "Come on then, love. Let's get you to bed. You'll sleep better there, and you won't be as sore in the morning."

She groaned some kind of a reply and nuzzled her head against her chest as she nodded her head. She wouldn't remember most of this in the morning anyway, so him being so sweet was just part of what he usually did. It was one of the many reasons why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

He glanced down at her sleeping form in his arms and smiled. Part of him wished that it could always be like this. Both of them happy for the time being and any negativity they had ever felt in their relationship was non-existent. If only life worked that way. Their lives were far too familiar with the stress of the outside world interfering with their happiness. Someday they would have it all figured out, but not tonight.

He thought back to the spat they had gotten into before he stormed out of the flat once again. He was always doing that. Storming out like he was a petulant child. No wonder she had called him one earlier. She was only pointing out what he was refusing to believe about himself.

It had taken him getting his sorry arse thrown out of the local pub by the bartender for him to even realize the truth. If he thought about it deeply, he might have remembered exactly what he had said to the bloke at the other end of the bar that got him socked in the jaw. However, those weren't pleasant thoughts that he wanted to be thinking about at the moment. He'd have to come up with a way to explain away the shiner in the morning when she woke up. Telling her the truth would probably just result in another one.

She hated it when he got into fights at the pub. It became a constant reminder that anywhere he was that he couldn't act like a tosser and argue with anyone he damn well felt like. He had promised her that he would start doing better, but tonight he had failed her. It's probably why she had fallen asleep in the study rather than their bedroom.

Crossing the threshold to their bedroom, he carried her over to the bed and pulled back the covers with one hand before laying her down. He tugged the covers back up around her and tucked her in tightly on all sides. Leaning down he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and walked around the bed to his side, pulling his shirt off in the process.

He threw the crumpled ball of fabric onto the floor and undid the button on his jeans stepping out of them and leaving them in his wake. He tossed back the covers on his side of the bed and crawled in beside her. Taking one last look at her, he smiled softly before reaching up and turning off the light. They could deal with everything in the morning.

Tonight they just needed to sleep.

. . . . . . . . .

She felt the bed shift beside her, and it startled her awake. Her eyes snapped open, and she glanced around the room. When did she come into their bedroom? The last thing she could remember was drifting off on the couch… The longer she thought about it, the sooner she realized what had happened.

Drifting to sleep wasn't the last thing she remembered. She remembered him coming home and begging her to come back to bed. He had tried to steal her book.

No one took her books away from her. They were the one thing in the world that no one could truly take away. That was a lie. There was something else that no one could take away from her, at least not without magic and she was starting to believe that that didn't exist either.

No one could take away her memories. Memories were the thing that was haunting her at night, and that kept her awake into the wee hours of the morning, hidden away in the study looking for a way to chase away that which ailed her. That and her blasted mobile phone.

As the thought jolted through her mind, she bolted upright in bed and looked over at the nightstand. Where was her mobile? She could have sworn it was in her pajama bottoms, so she smacked her way down the length of her clothes, finding nothing. She frowned, exhaling sharply in the process and kicked her feet out from underneath the covers.

It wasn't on the nightstand, and it wasn't in her pockets. That would lead her to believe that the device never made its way out of the study along with her earlier. Hopefully, that meant that her loving husband had left it there or didn't even think to look for it when he claimed her.

Quickly she made her way towards the door. Just as she was about to leave the room, she heard a rustling of blankets on the bed. She froze in place and glanced back at him over her shoulder. He wasn't one to usually wake in the night, so she should be able to run to the study and grab her mobile, then make it back to bed before he even realizes that she left him all alone.

Padding her way down the hallway, she could feel her heart racing in her chest. There were things on her device that were meant truly for her eyes only, and she could only assume that his mobile had contents of the same privacy. She couldn't be sure, but he had always been protective of his since the day that they met. It had become the reason for her own practice of privacy with her device.

No one needed to know her passcode. If there was something there that another person needed to see, then she could simply send it to them, or she could show them exactly what they needed to see and nothing more. Mobile devices were capable of holding so much information that if placed in the wrong hands could really destroy a person, let alone what it could do to a relationship. There were just some things that the wedding bands on a person's hand couldn't save, no matter how much they loved one another.

As she rounded the corner at the end of the hall by the study, she could hear the soft buzzing of her mobile phone against the table in the middle of the study. With a sigh of relief, she quickened her step and ducked into the room, closing the door behind her before picking up the device. She smiled when she noticed the name plastered across the screen. The only reason she frowned was the fact that the name was proceeded by the words missed call.

Something must have been bothering him. He never called this late without pre-planning unless there was something wrong. Nervously, she unlocked the screen and went to her messages. There had been nothing from him for hours, so why the sudden influx of calls? Pressing his name, she decided it was necessary to at least make some kind of contact.

Calling was too risky at the moment. What if it rang and the noise woke her up? What if she were the one to answer the phone? What on earth would she say if she heard another woman's voice on the other end of the line? There was a reason he always called first, and there was a reason they always planned out their phone calls. There were too many questions that neither of them had answers for and neither was ready to try and come up with the answer.

 _2:05 AM: You rang?_

As she waited for him to respond, her mind started racing with all the possibilities of what could have gone wrong. Her mind flooded with the worst of the worst and tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes. As the first tear started to roll down her cheek, she cursed herself under her breath. She didn't even know what was actually going on and her emotions were on overdrive. She wiped the tears away from her cheeks and took a deep breath, glancing down at the device in her hands. All she was waiting for was a message saying everything was okay, then she could go back to bed.

 _2:07 AM: Sleep dial, sorry about that_

She exhaled sharply and smiled at her phone. Those were exactly the words she needed to hear that would allow her to drift back into her dreamless sleep. A dreamless sleep next to one of the two men that held her heart. She knew that someday soon she'd have to decide who she wanted more. There was just a lurking feeling in the back of her mind and in the pit of her stomach telling her that the time was coming. She couldn't deny that there was a part of her that hoped that day would never happen. Wouldn't that be the dream?

 _2:09 AM: Good to know. Schedule a call soon?_

 _2:10 AM: Absolutely, I miss the sound of your voice_

 _2:11 AM: I miss the sound of yours too_

 _2:12 AM: Sleep well, my love_

 _2:12 AM: Sleep well, my dearest_

With a deep sigh, she held her mobile close to her chest and smiled. Why did he have to make talking to him so simple? Maybe if things between them weren't so simple, then it would make it easier to choose. Although, nothing was perfect in any relationship. Both of her relationships led to their fair share of arguments. It was just a part of life and love. Whoever came up with that concept must have had a rough life when it came to love to give the world such a cynical idea of the phrase. It was just the yin and yang of life. There has to be bad with the good and good in the bad. All it takes is looking at the situation with a different point of view to see both.

She crept back into the bedroom and leaned up against the door frame when she saw him curled up on his side of the bed. She smiled to herself. She really was a lucky woman, even she didn't always seem to appreciate everything that he did for her and how much he truly loved him. What made her so special that she had multiple men to love her and some women don't even get one? She'd never truly know the answer to that question.

Crawling back into the bed, she moved closer to his side of the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist as she settled into the pillow. For right now, she needed to be close to one of them, and he was the convenient one for the moment. She smiled when she felt him move closer and drape an arm over her own waist, pulling her in close.

For the moment everything was perfect, but perfect could change in the blink of an eye. All it took was a little misconception or a bald-faced lie to change everything. It was a risk that neither of them was willing to take.

. . . . . . . . .

"I've missed you," he mumbled into her hair, nuzzling his nose against the soft flesh of her neck. The quiet hum of his voice added a sensation unlike any other, sending a shiver down her spine. He smiled as he felt her shake in his arms momentarily. Squeezing her tight, he pressed his lips to her neck for a soft kiss before lifting his head from her shoulder.

"I've missed you too," she whispered, smiling softly at him. She reached up and cupped his cheek, brushing the pad of her thumb along the stubble on his chin. It had felt like an eternity since she had last been in his arms and this was the only place she had wanted to be since their fight only a few weeks earlier.

"Why did we let something so silly come between us?" he asked, hanging his head with a sigh as soon as the words escaped his lips. "I didn't mean it that -"

"So how did you mean it then?" she grumbled, pulling back from him and stepping just out of his grasp. She carded a hand through her loose waves and took a deep breath as she turned away from him. This wasn't how things were supposed to go down tonight. They were supposed to be here just to talk and work things out. Not to fight. It was never supposed to turn into a fight, but here they were at it yet again.

"Not the way that it came across," he sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I'm sorry. Can we please start this over?"

Batting her eyes quickly, she tried to fight back the tears she had felt welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I want to start over, but I'm not sure that we can. I feel like there's just been too much damage over the last month or so. We couldn't even get through one meeting without it coming up."

"It was a mistake. I swear to you I wasn't trying to start a fight with you. The words slipped out of my mouth before I even thought about what I was saying."

"That's the problem! You didn't even plan to start fighting. It just happens."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He knew she was right, but what else were they supposed to do?

They had tried being together, and it led to fighting. They had tried staying apart and focusing on their separate marriages, but that had only led to arguing as well. They argued when they weren't able to see each other about the time they were missing out on, but when they were together, they argued about the time they were missing out on with their significant other. No matter what way they looked at it, they could never win. They could never spend time alone.

"I don't like seeing you with someone else." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she covered her mouth with her hands, allowing the tears to start rolling down her cheek. "I know I don't have any right to tell you that and I don't want you to leave her for me. I'd never be able to ask you to do that for me. It's not fair to any of us involved."

"Just as I'd never ask you to leave him for me. I know you'd never say yes," he replied, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, pulling her towards him and burying her head in his chest. All he wanted to do right now was hold her and take all of her pain away, even if he was the cause of most of it for right now.

"Sometimes I just wish we could be alone," she sighed, leaning her forehead into the center of his chest.

"We're alone right now, aren't we?" he asked, furrowing his brow as he looked down at the top of her head, kissing it gently.

"Physically, yes. But we've got our mobiles that could ring at any moment telling us that we need run home as soon as physically possible," she said, tipping her head back to look up at him. "We're never truly alone, no matter how hard we try to be. It's just the reality of our situation."

He thought about what she had said for a moment and sighed, nodding his head. "You're right. What if we took a trip? Just ran away somewhere leaving our phones behind for even just one night, so we could truly be alone and see how we really feel about everything. We used to do that all the time when we first started this, maybe we just need to get back to our roots."

"What about work? What would you tell her? What would I tell him? There are too many variables involved now. We'd never be able to get away for a night, let alone an entire weekend," she said, rolling her eyes. She always had to be the realistic one in the pair. She loved his optimism, but optimism only did so much.

"So an hour," he replied, pushing her back so he could look her directly in the eyes. "We can both afford to get away for an hour. You could say you were running an errand for work, and I disappear all the time for hour-long intervals. My wife wouldn't think anything of it. What do you say? We have to at least try something. If this proves to be a giant flop, then we know we have no choice but to stop. Things obviously didn't work out for a reason, and we can refocus our attention on rebuilding the brokenness we have kicked to the sides."

"I need to take some time to think about it," she replied, worrying her lip and glancing between the clock on the wall and his face.

"What do you need to think about? I didn't ask you to run away and elope with me. I asked you to spend an hour with me so we can try and fix what the fuck has happened between us that is causing us to keep fighting so much," he growled, taking a step back from her and crossing his arms over his chest. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she was dragging her fight about this. Didn't she love him and want to see if this could actually work? And then the answer to his own question struck him. What was she supposed to tell her husband if they figured out how this whole thing was going to work? What if they figured out that they were better together than with their significant others? Why couldn't things be easy for once? Why did they have to keep making things more and more complicated?

"I need to decide if this is what I really want," she replied, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. She watched as he focused his eyes on the back of her hand. She wasn't sure how he was going to respond to her touch, so she was ready to pull it back if he didn't want it there. A few moments had passed, and he reached up, cupping her hand in his and drawing it to his lips and kissed it gently.

"I understand that. I'm sorry for shouting. I just want this to make sense for once," he sighed.

"I know. But we knew when we started this that things were never going to be easy. If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it, and there would be no sanctity in marriage," she hummed, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pressed up on her tiptoes so that she was eye to eye with him. Leaning in slowly, she pressed her lips to his briefly. "We'll figure something out. We always do. For tonight, we should take advantage of the time we have alone, shouldn't we?"

He quirked his brow and smiled at her comment. Slowly, he nodded his head up and down, wrapping his arms around her waist and picking her up off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed her arms tight around his neck. "We really should," he replied, pressing his lips to hers roughly, slipping his tongue between her lips almost as soon as their lips touched. He smiled when he heard felt her soft moan reverberate between their skin.

He carried her over to the bed on the opposite side of the room and tossed her down gently so that her head landed on the pillows at the top of the bed. Standing at the foot of the bed, he looped his fingers inside the bottom hem of his shirt and pulled the fabric up over his head. He smiled when he looked down at the bed and noticed that she too had shed her blouse and was currently disposing of it on the floor beside the bed. He leaned forward and lifted his leg up onto the end of the bed, slowly making his way from the end of the bed to the apex between her thighs. He gripped her hips and pulled her closer to him.

With a wicked smile on his face, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers and wrapped his arms around her waist. She brought her legs up and wrapped them around his waist. Her arms found their way around her neck, pulling him closer to her than he already was. His tongue slide along the seam of her lips, silently asking for entrance. He smiled as he felt her lips part, allowing his tongue inside and her's found its way into his mouth.

His hands worked their way up her back to the clasp of her bra. Quickly, he made work of it and pulled the flimsy fabric off of her and tossed it to the floor. The more clothing that was in the way, the less skin to skin contact he could get with her. Leaning more into the kiss, he pressed his chest against hers and wrapped his arms around her waist. This closeness was precisely what they needed at that moment. Only a few more barriers to go and they would be as close as two could get.

If they couldn't talk through their problems without fighting, maybe they'd be able to fuck their way through the process, and everything could start fresh again in the morning. At this point, both of them were willing to try anything they could to make this transition as simple as possible. It had been far too long since they had been together. All they could hope for was that everything still worked the same as it did the last time.

. . . . . . . .

"You were out late tonight." The voice in the darkness startled her as she smacked at the wall looking for the light. Before she had a chance to flip the switch, the lights flickered on, and she was met with a less than happy to see her face.

She frowned and quickly crossed the room, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing up on her tiptoes. "I know I am, but I swear it wasn't on purpose. I started to leave five or six times, and every time I made it out of my office, someone was coming up to me with more things for me to approve or a question they needed to ask me."

"What happened to telling them that you had a cut off time to be out the door at the end of the day?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in close to him.

"It worked for a day, but then something would come up that would force me to push back my leaving time until it was never the same time two days in a row," she sighed, frowning at him as she batted her pretty eyes silently asking forgiveness. "Please tell me you aren't too mad at me."

"I'm not mad, but dinner's not warm anymore," he said, leaning down to press his lips to her briefly.

"You made dinner?" she asked, her eyes lighting up as she glanced back over her shoulder. "Where is it?"

"In the fridge," he replied. "I wasn't sure what time you were coming home, and I didn't want it to go bad. I'll warm it back up. Go change, and when you come back, I'll have a glass of wine with your name on it. Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds perfect," she replied, kissing him chastely before pulling out of his arms and making her way towards their bedroom.

Making her way into their bedroom, she slipped her mobile out of her pocket to silence the constant buzzing that had been happening since she walked in the door. Hidden at the bottom of her notifications bar was a message from the fabulous man downstairs telling her that she was missing a beautiful dinner and that he was worried about her. The message brought a smile to her face as she shed away her work clothes and found something a tad more comfortable to wear for the mere minutes it would most likely be on her body.

. . . . . . . . .

 _11:50 PM: I hate knowing that you're with him right now..._

 _11:51 PM: I can't stand the thought of you being with someone else, I wish it could only be the two of us together forever_

 _11:52 PM For that to be the case, you'd have to be willing to walk away from her._

 _11:53 PM: Do you think I like knowing yours with her instead of me?_

 _11:54 PM: I hate that we can't be together because we're never truly alone..._


	10. 9: Did I Imagine Everything?

**A/N:** Hello loves! I have no excuses for not updating this story sooner, especially when we are so close to the end of the story. With that being said, I wanted to let you know that this story will end on the day it began, March 11th. I started posting this story a year ago and I thought it would be only fitting to end on the same day we began.

Special thanks to SquarePeg72 for giving this chapter and the last chapter a once over before I post. Your help with this storyline is greatly appreciated. I've enlisted the help of Grammarly to check for any errors. I'll apologize for any errors you may find otherwise, they are all my own.

The title for this chapter is "Did I Imagine Everything?" which is a line from _Never Really Mine_ by Liz Longley. This song was recommended to me by xxDustNight88 when I was looking for inspiration for this chapter. Thank you so much for the recommendation and for all of the songs you've recommended for me in the past!

Special shout out to NathanielCardeu and Frumpologist for their undying love of this story in my group on Facebook. Your love never goes unnoticed and I appreciate you both! A special shoutout also to boomersoonerash on AO3 for all of your wonderful comments!

Check me out on social media if you're interested!

Can't wait to read what you think of the chapter, especially when we are almost at the end. I'll see you all on March 11th with the final chapter!

Love always,  
~starr

* * *

"Come back to bed."

"I can't; I've got to get back home before he wakes up and realizes I'm not there."

She heard a muffled groan rise behind her, and she turned to look at him one last time before she pulled her top over her head. She smiled softly and blew him a kiss.

Her soft kiss was met with the roll of the eyes and yet another groan as the blanket got tossed into the air. He didn't want her to leave, but he knew at the same time that he couldn't keep her much longer without coming up with some wonderful excuse to tell the woman who was waiting for him at home.

In all reality, there was a part of him who wanted to get home to his wife, even though the last week had been spent fighting about minuscule things that could be fought about. As much as he hated it, he couldn't erase the feelings of love and desire that he felt for his wife.

At least not when he wasn't looking at _her_ , the gorgeous woman putting clothes back on in the empty hotel room that they had rented for the evening. Not that they had been able to enjoy it for the entire evening as was the original plan. Sometimes things were best left to their imaginations because reality always leaves them wanting more.

"Are you sure you have to leave? It feels like you just got here."

He pouted his lower lip at her as she rolled her eyes and threw her jumper in his direction, landing just shy of his toes. He laughed, leaning forward to pull the soft fabric up to his face. He lifted the garment to his nose and inhaled deeply. He missed her scent when she left his side, but it was always replaced by another smell he loved so deeply.

Why was he being asked to choose between the two? There was no right answer at this point. Yes, there was a morally right answer, but his heart was telling him that he loved both of them just the same and deep down he knew her heart was telling her the same thing about him and her husband.

"It feels like I just got here because I did," she laughed, walking over to the bed and making a grab for her sweater before he pulled it away quickly. She sighed, leaning forward to grab it once again, and just as she wrapped it in her fingers, he leaned forward pressing his lips roughly to her lips and making her forget about everything that was going on at the moment.

The kiss made her forget about who she was supposed to be going home to and what she had been doing in this room in the first place. Or at least that was the lie she was going to keep telling herself until she believed it as the truth.

Someday they'd be asked to answer a lot of questions that neither of them was quite ready to explain, but that was the consequence that they would have to pay for the choices they had made. Tonight was just a way to make them forget about the reality of their situation.

Tonight was just about them. At least until reality sets in again in the morning.

. . . . . . . .

Her eyes fluttered open slowly as the morning sun filtered into their bedroom. The last thing Hermione remembered was collapsing on the bed at an ungodly hour last night and drifting into a dreamless sleep. So to be awoken by the sunlight was not her ideal method of alarm. Shaking her head, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked around the room.

Where was Draco? It was Saturday morning, which meant he was usually game for a lie-in, especially after a relatively late night. With a heavy sigh, she pushed herself out of bed. She glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the nightstand and quickly realized why her husband was no longer in bed with her.

"Well, shit," she grumbled, making her way out of the bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen. She could smell the pleasant aroma of coffee wafting towards her. She needed that life-giving beverage more than anything today.

Rounding the corner into the kitchen, she was greeted by a familiar blond head holding a steaming cup of coffee out in her general direction.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Draco said with a smile, leaning forward and kissing her on the cheek.

Hermione smiled back and happily accepted the cup of coffee. She lifted it to her lips and inhaled the heavenly aroma deeply and sighed as she took her first sip. "Heavenly," she hummed.

"You came to bed late last night," Draco mused, turning around to pick up his cup of coffee and lifting it to his lips. As he took a sip, he turned back to face her and leaned up against the counter.

Hermione nodded her head slowly and inhaled sharply. There was an awkward pause as she thought back to why she had been so late to bed and why she had been so tired. Thinking about it for a few moments, she shrugged and furrowed her brow.

"I remember glancing up at the clock around eleven, and then I must have gotten lost in my book."

Slowly, Draco nodded his head. He wasn't sure if he believed her story, but at the same time, he didn't have any reason not to believe her. She had never given him cause for concern before. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

He quickly pushed the thoughts aside and finished off his coffee. The two of them had other plans for today that needed attending to at the moment. "Are you sure you're still up for that dinner tomorrow? You've seemed off lately… but I can't put my finger on what."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm fine. Just haven't been sleeping well. Besides, we can't cancel on Theo and Millie again. They'll start to think we don't want to spend with them anymore if we do."

"But if you aren'-"

"I'm fine."

Draco put his hands up in the air and nodded his head. Not worth pushing it anymore. He wasn't really in the mood to fight this morning. Maybe if he just walked away and let it all go, he could pretend as he had never asked such a stupid question.

"Sorry for the stupid question," he mumbled, carding a hand through his hair before reaching for the coffee pot once more. He wasn't sure why he was apologizing, but it seemed like the only right thing to do.

Hermione closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. It wasn't a stupid question. He was just honestly concerned for her well-being, and she couldn't be arsed to be polite to him about his concern. He was her husband after all, and he cared for her, that was all. He was suspecting anything.

After all, what would he have to be curious about?

"It wasn't a stupid question," she sighed, walking over and wrapping her arms around his waist. "I haven't been sleeping well, and I snapped, but it shouldn't have been at you. I'm sorry."

She pressed her cheek into the center of his back and closed her eyes. A small smile pulled a the corners of her lips when she felt him sigh and place his hands on hers, squeezing gently for a moment. Then before she knew it, he was turning around and wrapping his arms around her.

With a smile on her face, she tilted her head back, and his lips met hers in a soft, slow kiss. His tongue was teasing its way along the seam of her lips until they parted with a sigh and it made its way inside. He wrapped his arms tight around her body as their tongues danced smoothly against one another's.

After a few moments of soft kissing in the middle of the kitchen, Draco slowly started walking her backward toward the bedroom. Breakfast could wait a little while longer.

. . . . . . . . .

 _2:01 PM: Last night was amazing. When can it happen again?_

 _2:02 PM: Not the best time._

 _2:02 PM: It's never a good time, but I wanted to talk to you._

 _2:03 PM: So use your imagination_

 _2:03 PM: The real thing is better. So when can I see you again?_

 _2:05 PM: You'll see me soon enough…_

 _2:05 PM: Sooner will be better and alone would be the best…  
_ _2:06 PM: Didn't you mean those things that you whispered in my ear last night? Or is that just my imagination working in overdrive again?_

 _2:07 PM: It wasn't your imagination, but like I said. It's not a good time.  
_ _2:09 PM: We'll be together soon enough. I promise._

. . . . . . . . .

Theo walked into the kitchen and the scene that he found in front of him scared him. It appeared that his lovely wife had decided it was time to start baking again, something she hadn't done since their years in uni. The only reason she had stopped was that she almost burnt down the apartment her and Hermione had shared during that time.

"Millie?" he called out, cautiously stepping into the kitchen and making his way towards the island in the middle of the room. As he looked around the room, he couldn't find her, and he was starting to grow concerned.

Just as he was about to round the corner of the island, a sudden movement in front of him caused him to jump. Millie popped up from the floor with a broad smile on her face. Theo narrowed his eyes a little as he looked at her and noticed that she had flour all over her face.

"Hey babe!" she cheered, pressing up on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek softly, leaving behind a light dusting of flour. As she pulled away, she noticed the flour and started laughing before reaching out and gently dusting off his cheek.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled, cupping his cheek gently as she batted her eyes at him.

"No big deal," he replied, wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing her tight. "I see you've been busy this morning."

Millie laughed and nodded her head. "I was up bright and early, so I figured I'd put myself to work and bake something deliciously sweet for dessert after dinner tomorrow night."

"If they don't cancel on us again," Theo said with a huff.

Millie playfully smacked him in the chest and took a step back, turning her attention to the oven. "It's not like they're doing it on purpose. Other more pressing issues have come up, and it's not all on them either. We haven't' been the most reliable source of friendship to them lately either."

"I guess you're right. It just feels like every time we have something scheduled with them; they cancel on us."

Theo carded a hand through his hair as he watched Millie check on whatever it was that she happened to be baking at the moment and smiled. He was a lucky man, that was for sure. However, sometimes though, he felt as though he didn't deserve her and that she belonged with someone much better than him. Someone who would never do her wrong. Someone who wasn't as flawed as he was.

He shook his head, pushing those negative thoughts aside. She'd tell him that he was being silly and that of course, he was perfect for her. Why else would she have said yes to marry him all those years ago? Besides, nobody's supposed to be perfect. The exciting part of life is the fact that people are flawed. Those flaws are what makes relationships work. What one person is lacking, the other usually makes up for, bringing everyone together in a happy union or at least that was what Theo had managed to convince himself of for the time being.

"So what delicious treat are you making for us?"

"Tiramisu."

Her response caught him a bit off guard, so he took a minute to think about the last time he had tiramisu. From what he could remember, the only part of it that was baked was the cookies in the middle. So what exactly did she have in the oven right now if she had been making this dessert all morning? He was almost afraid to ask the question that was forming at the forefront of his mind.

"If you're making tiramisu, what are you baking? I would have thought the cookies were done hours ago…" His voice trailed off as she slowly turned around to look at him.

"The tiramisu is in the oven, silly," Millie replied, rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to the oven. Slowly, she opened the door and was met with a cloud of smoke. "Oh no!"

She quickly turned the oven off and slipped on her oven mitts to pull the burnt dessert out and set on the stovetop. The entire thing was burnt to a crisp. Tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes as she looked at the dessert.

Theo quickly made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest. He rested his chin atop her head and stroked a hand up and down her back. "It's okay, baby. Tiramisu isn't a simple dessert to make."

"But I followed all of the directions," she mumbled as tears continued to roll down her cheek and stain Theo's jumper. "I don't know what went wrong."

"Shhh," Theo said, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head. "Why don't you go lay down for a bit, and I'll clean this all up while you rest? Then we can make a trip to the store and get all new ingredients and make the dessert together. How does that sound?"

Mille inhaled sharply and nodded her head, taking a step back and wiping away the few stray tears that were still rolling down her cheeks. "Okay."

He leaned forward and kissed her softly before turning her around and gently pushing her towards their bedroom. While she napped, he could find his kitchen once again. After all, there was a reason he was the head chef in their relationship.

. . . . . . . . .

She glanced down at the photo on the lock screen of her mobile and smiled. It was a happy moment. It was one of the happiest moments of her life, but it was one of those moments that made nights like tonight difficult. Pressing the lock button on the side, she flipped the screen face down and placed it on the nightstand beside the bed.

It wasn't her husband's face that she wanted to be seeing right now. There was someone else at the forefront of her mind. Someone she hadn't been able to get off her mind. Someone that she couldn't be more excited to see, even if this wasn't how things were supposed to be.

This was just a snapshot into a world that she almost could have had, but instead she went a different way. Both of them had chosen a different pathway to carry along. And if she was honest with herself, she didn't regret the choices that she had made. Her only hope was that he felt the same.

Neither of them was innocent in this. They had put a stop to their relationship, but ultimately that wasn't the right choice either because it just fueled the desire to see one another in whatever capacity was possible.

So now, here they were. Meeting in hotel rooms just like before for a quick fuck and then back to their "picture-perfect" lives that the rest of the world could see. No one but them saw the fighting and heartache that happened behind closed doors. No one saw the sadness found at three am when they couldn't sleep because their mind was being forced to choose between the life they chose or the life they imagined.

However, maybe that was all this was. It was a figment of their imagination, and nothing was as it seemed. Only time could tell.

As the thoughts of a life that could have been run through her head, there was a soft knocking at the hotel room door. With excitement in her eyes, she jumped off the bed and ran over to the door, making quick work of the lock and opening it.

"I've been waiting for you."


	11. 10: Keepin' Secrets Safe

**A/N:** At long last, we've made it. I know it's felt like an excruciating two weeks, but I wanted this chapter to be perfect before I share it with you. I'm going to keep this author's note short since I've written some end notes at the very end.

The title of the chapter is _Keeping Secrets Safe_ from the song _Pretending_ by the Glee Cast.

The chapter was alpha read by SquarePeg72 and run through Grammarly. I apologize for any errors you may find.

This chapter is dedicated to NathanielCardeu, Frumpologist, and boomersoonerash for riding along with the story since the beginning. I love you all!

Enjoy!

* * *

 _5:45 PM: Are you sure this is a good idea?_

 _5:46 PM: No, but can we really add another lie to our situation?_

She looked at her mobile and frowned. Even she wasn't sure of the answer to her own question. They really couldn't afford any more lies to be weaved into the web that they had started stringing all those years ago.

Hidden glances and secret text messages were easy to hide. What made it complicated was when they started secretly meeting. Those secrets became a little harder to keep, but they had always been doable. Then they started sleeping together. That's when all hell started to break loose. There was only so much fighting that one relationship could take. Let alone being involved in two relationships at the same time, both fighting because of fights in the other relationship.

She shook her head quickly as the thoughts muddled her brain. She didn't have time to worry about that now. They were expecting company, and she needed to finish getting ready.

 _5:47 PM: No we really can't, and besides…_

 _5:48 PM: I really just want to see you_

. . . . . . . . .

Hermione looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. She refused to glance down at the timer ticking away on her mobile. At this point, she just needed to know the truth about what was going on with her body, and this was the only logical explanation. She would have to figure out all of the other details involved with this when she knew what was going.

She had never been so nervous about anything in her life. When the timer went off in a matter of moments, her whole life could potentially change, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for it. Could she be a mother?

Was she really ready for that big of a change in her life?

Was her marriage strong enough to raise a child?

Her thoughts continued to spin around her mind like a whirlwind when she heard a faint knock at the loo door. Panicked, she glanced down at the counter and knocked the pregnancy test into the sink and picked her mobile up off the counter and slipped it into her pocket. "Who is it?"

"It's Millie. Let me in," the voice on the other side of the door replied.

Hermione sighed and carded a hand through her curls before stepping forward and pulling up open the door. She smiled as Millie slipped inside before closing the door once more and taking a step back to lean up against the sink. "What's up?"

"Are you okay? You ran out of the kitchen faster than anyone I've ever seen," Millie asked, placing a gentle hand on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione nodded and pulled her shoulder out of Millie's reach, careful to remain in front of the sink so that even with a stray glance her secret couldn't be seen lying in the sink. "I'm okay. I thought I was going to be ill and I didn't want it to happen in front of everyone."

Millie looked her momentarily with a furrowed brow before shrugging her shoulders and turning towards the door. "Okay, I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

"Yup, all good here," Hermione replied, hurrying her out the door. "I'll be out in a few moments."

Just seconds before the door clicked shut with Millie standing on the outside, the timer on Hermione's mobile started ringing. Hermione cursed under her breath as Millie pushed back on the door and stepped inside the loo.

"What was that?" Millie asked, looking Hermione up and down.

"Just a timer on my phone. Time for my medicine," Hermione answered.

Millie crossed her arms over her chest. "What medicine? The last time I checked, you weren't on anything that had to be taken at a certain time…"

"It's nothing to worry about. Just go back out and join the guys. I'll be out in a second," Hermione pleaded, pushing her friend towards the door. The look in her eyes was begging for Millie to give her just five seconds of peace so that she could get her wits about her before rejoining the party.

Millie sighed and made her way towards the door, pulling it open slowly. She looked her best friend up and down once more before stepping outside and pulling the door closed behind her. Something was off about Hermione, but whatever it was, she was sure that Hermione would tell her whenever she was ready.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione leaned back against the door and tilted her head back with her eyes closed. It was time for the results whether she was ready or not. Once she knew, she could better assess how to handle the situation. She took a few steps forward and reached into the sink to pull out the pregnancy test.

Refusing to look at it right away, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, she willed her eyes to open, and her pupils went wide at the results in her hand.

"Son of a bitch," she mumbled under her breath.

. . . . . . . . . .

 _7:35 PM: We need to talk_

 _7:36 PM: So come back out here, and we can talk, just like we've been doing all night_

 _7:36 PM: Not that kind of talk_

 _7:37 PM: What kind of talk?_

 _7:38 PM: Just meet me in the kitchen in five minutes_

 _7:38 PM: Okay_

. . . . . . . . . .

Millie sighed as she collapsed on the couch beside Theo and rested her head against his shoulder. She noticed Draco looking at her out of the corner of his eye, so she furrowed her brow and looked at him. "Can I help you with something, Malfoy?"

Draco laughed and shook his head. "I was just about to ask if everything was okay in there."

"Apparently it's all fine, but I'll believe it when she reappears from the loo," Millie said, rolling her eyes as she snuggled in closer to Theo. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders so that she could get right up beside him. She smiled when she felt him lean over and press his lips to the top of her head.

As she relaxed there, she felt her stomach starting to do somersaults again, and she hoped that it would pass just as quickly as it had this morning. She didn't have time to be sick right now. There was too much going on, and it just didn't seem to fit in her busy schedule. Not to mention the fact that she couldn't figure out what would have caused her to start feeling poorly.

There had been none of her usual poorly indicators overtaking her life in recent weeks, so it would appear that this had come out of absolutely nowhere. She continued to think about what it could possibly be when an idea struck her. Quickly she reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile device. She flipped through the screens until she found her calendar app.

There may be one explanation to her current situation…

"Well shit," she mumbled to herself.

Theo turned his head in the direction of her voice and furrowed his brow. He noticed the frown on her face and was puzzled at the frown she was donning. He leaned down and pressed his lips to the side of her head. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and slipped her mobile back into her pocket. "Nothing's wrong."

Just as Theo was about to say something else to her, Hermione had appeared back in the sitting room. He sighed and turned his attention back to the rest of the crowd around them as Draco pushed himself up off the couch and walked over to wrap his arms around her.

"Everything okay, love?" he whispered, kissing her the side of her head gently.

She nodded her head against his and leaned up, pressing her lips to his cheek. "Everything's fine. My stomach was just upset, that's all. Nothing to be concerned about."

"Then why did you tell me you had to take some medicine at a certain time?" Millie asked, leaning forward with a sour look on her face. "Which is it, Hermione?"

Hermione leaned back and glared at Millie before turning her attention back to Draco with a fake smile plastered on her face. She noticed the concerned look he was wearing and reached up to cup his cheek. "I'm fine. When I felt ill, I remembered I hadn't taken one of my meds earlier."

"Which one?" Millie added, a coy smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"If you must know," Hermione hissed, turning her attention to Millie and Theo where they were seated on the couch. "It was my birth control, Millicent."

"Since when did you start taking birth control?" Millie mused aloud, only to be stopped when she felt Theo pulling at her shoulder. "What?"

"Back off, Mill," Theo grumbled, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "What does it matter what medicine she is or isn't taking? There's nothing wrong with someone taking birth control."

"I know there's not; I just think that it's odd timing. That's all," Millie replied, exhaling sharply as she collapsed back against the couch for a few moments. Then suddenly, she leaned forward and pushed herself off the couch. "I'll be right back. I need some air."

. . . . . . . .

 _8:00 PM: What the hell is the matter with you?_

 _8:01 PM: What are you talking about?_

She glared at her phone as she awaited a reply. Sure she had acted slightly irrational this evening, but there was no reason for hostility to be directed at her. She wasn't the one who was lying about what was going on with her. She just happened to be omitting the truth momentarily because she wasn't even sure what the truth was at this point.

All she knew was that she felt like absolute shit and for the life of her she had no idea why that was the case. Well, that wasn't necessarily true. She had a vague idea as to what could be causing her current issues, but that couldn't be the reason. They were always careful. Always prepared. So there was no possible way…

 _8:02 PM: You didn't need to bite her head off. So what if she was feeling poorly?_

 _8:02 PM: I don't care that she was poorly. I care that she was lying directly to our faces._

 _8:03 PM: How do you know she was lying?_

 _8:03 PM: I just know her, okay?_

Rolling her eyes, she tossed the device across the cushions on the outdoor sofa. She didn't really want to deal with whatever response came next flashing across the screen. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, inhaling deeply. She needed to figure out what her next step was going to be.

"How did you let yourself get into this mess?" she mumbled, scrubbing her hands over her face as she leaned forward. Taking another deep breath, she pushed herself up off the sofa and walked over to grab her mobile. When she flipped it over, she noticed that there wasn't a message waiting for her. Maybe he had given up his argument for the time being, or at least that was what she was going to keep telling herself.

Slowly, she made her way back into the flat from the patio. It wasn't that she wanted to go back inside, but she knew that eventually, she would have to or else she would have to walk home. The weather was starting to get chilly and walking home really didn't seem like a viable option. Especially in her current potential position. She didn't exactly have the time to catch a virus.

As she made her way inside, she felt her mobile vibrate in her hand. She shook her head and slipped the device into her pocket, ignoring the message that was waiting for her to read. At this point, she had other things that she needed to worry about.

. . . . . . . .

"What was so important that you couldn't tell me via text or in the other room?" he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked in the room.

She took a deep breath and pushed the door shut behind them, leaning forward to rest her head against the cool wood for a minute. She felt as though she was going to faint and fainting wouldn't be the best idea in her current situation.

As he turned back around to face her, he noticed that she was leaning up against the door. He crossed the floor quickly and placed a gentle hand against the small of her back. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, refusing to lift her face away from the door. She could feel the tears starting to well up in the corner of her eyes and begin to roll down her cheek.

He gently tugged on her shoulder and turned her into him. Once she was facing him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush to him. He brushed a hand over the back of her head and nestled his head into the crook of her neck.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head as a sob wracked its way through her body and she started shaking. Burying her face into his chest, she just started to cry. She didn't have the words to say that would answer his question. It wasn't so simple as telling him what was going on. How was she supposed to say to him that she really had no idea who the baby belonged to? Not that he expected her to have an answer to that question because he knew the reality of their situation. After all, both of them had made that choice.

It was those choices that were starting to alter their relationship. That one pathway that they had both stumbled down had led them to this. This exact moment where everything would change. No matter what was said now, everyone's lives would change from this point on out, and there was nothing she could do to change that fact.

He pressed his lips gently to the top of her head as he held her. Whatever it was that was upsetting her was more than just the awkwardness of the evening. Something else was terribly wrong, and he just needed to tell her what.

As the sobbing seemed to subside, he leaned back and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye and took a deep breath. He smiled softly as her beautiful tear filled eyes fluttered open to look at him. He had hoped that his smile would bring one to her face. And it did, but it was a faint smile.

"Now that the waterworks have stopped would you tell me what's wrong?"

Inhaling sharply, she took half a step back and scrubbed her hands over her face to wipe away the remaining tears. As she lowered her hands, her eyes met his once again.

Unbeknownst to both of them, the door to the room they had been hidden away in creaked open and in walked two sets of ears who had only the faintest ideas of what the truth really was. What waited for them on the other side was a new adventure full of conversations they would have to have, but at the same time, those conversations that no couple wanted to have. Especially not at a time like this.

That upcoming conversation would lead to many choices that would lead them down different pathways. While all would pay the consequences of their action, it was the two already in the room whom it would cost the most.

"I'm pregnant."

 _~ Fin ~_

* * *

 **End Notes:** Hey again! I'm sure you've reached this point and are like _"Wait, who's the daddy?"_ and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to be stuck with that question along with others from previous chapters. I know it seems frustrating to not have all of the answers, but if you refer back to the summary of this story, you'll notice that the whole thing was talking about how we're stuck living with the choices that we have made. That is why this ends on what seems like the "wrong" note.

We have followed Hermione and Draco and Millie and Theo along a path of arguments and unanswered questions for the duration of this story. We have also followed the affair couple along that same kind of scenario. I hope by now you have realized that it was only the four characters all along which means that the affair is made up of one of the arrangements of non-married couples. I like the end of this story because in a way it allows you to choose the ending. Do you want each couple to leave happily ever after without any problems? Then it can happen. Do you want the marriages to end and the affair to end? Then go ahead and think that way. Or are you one of the few who is rooting for the affair all along and hope it continues? Because if that's the case then the "choose your own ending" is for you.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it and thank you for letting me leave it as though it feels unfinished. Please be advised that there will not be an epilogue or a sequel. This story is complete and I won't be adding any more to it.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this story and me over the year and will continue to support both now that its over.

I can't wait to read your comments and reviews!

Sometimes the choices we make aren't the right ones, but at the time those choices are exactly the ones that we needed to make.

Love always,  
~starr


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